Wildcat strikes and protests have brought six of Pikitup's biggest depots to a standstill, leaving rubbish uncollected across large parts of Johannesburg. Frustrated residents and businesses are paying private contractors to remove waste while the city's refuse collection service grinds to a halt.

Six major Pikitup depots are down, and frustrated residents are paying private operators R69 a pop to remove their bins. They are doing a roaring trade as yet another service goes to pot in Joburg.

The Randburg, Waterval, Roodepoort, Avalon, Orange Farm and Marlboro depots are down, councillors confirmed to the Daily Maverick, leaving people with overflowing bins across large parts of the city, stretching from the north to the west. These are half the depots in the city.

Casual workers who were promised jobs are protesting, while Pikitup workers are either on go-slows or wildcat, undeclared strikes, because Mayor Dada Morero has held back their July payment under an expensive, so-called politically facilitated agreement (PFA) with city workers, because the city is near-insolvent.

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The PFA is expensive, at R10.3-billion over the short term, and was quickly signed when workers threatened to strike during the November 2025 G20 heads of state meeting in Johannesburg, just as President Cyril Ramaphosa needed to put on a good show.

Now Joburg's run out of money, and Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is expressly refusing to pony up for the expensive salary adjustments, saying the PFA is unfunded.

BUDGET BUST Finance minister warns...