#CatchUp: What did you miss in Joburg last week?

This week in the City of Johannesburg, Pikitup battles to get rid of their backlog and a Metro police inspector and his canine partner scoop up a couple of gold medals. Read more on what you might have missed this week.

Four paws and two feet of Joburg’s much-appraised K9 Narcotics and Tactical Unit recently made the City very proud. Metro police’s K9 Unit inspector Peter September and Giyana, his narcotics specialist dog, managed to fetch four gold medals and three silver medals at the South African Working Trial Dog’s Association National Championship Competitions. September and Giyana competed against 15 other dogs and their handlers from across the country.

An amount of R2 billion will be poured into the inner city through the Divercity Urban Property Fund, much to the delight of Executive Mayor Herman Mashaba. This investment, he said, was the largest in the Johannesburg CBD for some years, and would be focused on the redevelopment of the iconic Absa Towers main building and Jewel City. The project is expected to start early next year, with Absa expected to reoccupy the towers early in 2020.

Pikitup’s waste removal backlog is expected to be completely cleared by Saturday (13 October), with many areas having their waste removed for the first time in two weeks.

MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Development, Nico de Jager, said the problem began on 1 October after a problem with the contract for their waste removal trucks. Pikitup recently operated with limited capacity throughout Johannesburg due to its inability to manage the transition of its ad hoc fleet contracts.

“Historically, the City has struggled with the timely management of contracts so as to ensure a smooth transition between the end of one contract and the commencement of another,” De Jager said. “This situation has been exacerbated by the advanced age and volatility of our existing fleet.
“De Jager said an investigation was now underway. “I have requested a full investigation to be instituted to determine the culpability of those responsible.”