GroundUp reports that about 30 garbage collectors at the Cuyler Depot in Kariega (Uitenhage) stopped rubbish collection for the second day on Friday morning.

Fourteen workers, whose contracts ended on 30 June, were demanding permanent jobs.   Dressed in their overalls, they stormed the depot, singing “dubula dubula’ (shoot shoot) and blowing whistles. Municipal spokesperson Mthubanzi Mniki said the employees contracts had ended due to budget constraints as the department could only afford to take on a smaller number of employees. At 6am on Thursday and on Friday, when rubbish trucks were supposed to have set out for the streets of KwaNobuhle, Khayelitsha and the city centre, the workers closed the main gate and told truck drivers not to drive out of the depot. Vehicles were also barred from entering. “We have been badly treated … The management has told us they won’t employ us permanently,” a worker claimed. He said tensions rose in June when they demanded overalls and personal protective equipment. “We discovered that in all the other five depots in the city other casual workers will be made permanent in this financial year, except us,” he also claimed.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Thamsanqa Mbovane at GroundUp

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