For many Johannesburg residents, clean streets are taken for granted, but for Pikitup workers such as Nomnyaka Ndlovu and Phophi Mudzwiri, keeping the city clean is not only hard work, it’s often dangerous and emotionally draining.
Ndlovu, who has worked as a street sweeper for 14 years, says her job comes with daily challenges, from meeting homeless people and not knowing whether to tell them to move to discovering newborn babies.
“Sometimes homeless people just decide to take a particular space and use it as their home. So it’s a bit challenging to work on those particular places,” Ndlovu said.
“You sweep, then pick up whatever you have swept. You put it inside the dustbin and others inside the plastics they provide. Then after that, you leave it at a particular point where the truck is able to come and pick them up.”
She and her colleagues often face criticism from the public, who accuse them of not working when they see a dirty place.
“They forget that we are challenged because there’s nothing we can do if people are sleeping there. We have to wait for maybe metros to remove them. We don’t have that power to remove them because sometimes they get angry and fight.”
If maybe the city can reinforce the laws and provide them with spaces where they can get shelter, then it could be easier for us
— Nomnyaka Ndlovu
Her shift runs from 7am to 2pm but her biggest challenge is working in crowded and difficult areas where the informal traders are.
“There are a lot of challenges, especially the places that are congested. The places where we work are congested due to informal traders and people who come to do shopping, and we have some more illegal dumpings.”
She hopes the city will do more to enforce bylaws and provide shelters for homeless people. “If maybe the city can reinforce the laws and provide them with spaces where they can get shelter, then it could be easier for us.”
Asked about the strangest things she has found while cleaning, Ndlovu said she has found everything. “From human faeces, dead newborns, syringes, household appliances, rotten food, everything you can think of.”
Ndlovu said when they come across a dead newborn, they immediately call the police. Despite all the challenges, Ndlovu said she still loves her job and takes pride in keeping Johannesburg clean.
‘These days it’s a bit better’
Mudzwiri, who started working for Pikitup in 2018 after moving from Limpopo to Johannesburg, shares similar experiences as her colleague Ndlovu.
Unlike Ndlovu, Mudzwiri said she took the job as she had no choice, but she is growing within it.
“There’s high unemployment in South Africa. We are from Limpopo; we came here to make something for ourselves. I took this job, as I didn’t have any other option at the time. But there are a lot of opportunities in it, such as being taken to school. Some of us are studying on the side through Pikitup.”
Mudzwiri said the company offers employees opportunities to study at different institutions, including Unisa, colleges and other universities. “You choose what you want to study. I can be a supervisor, team leader, ops leader or general manager.”
Mudzwiri said her day starts early with a parade before they head to the streets. “In the morning when we arrive at work, we have to be wearing the full uniform, especially the safety vest, for us to be safe as we work on the streets where there are cars. We clock in at work, stand in a line and parade, then they give us plastics and brooms, and we go to the streets and start sweeping.”
There was a time that we came across a woman giving birth, and she gave birth right in front of us. We had to help her, but I was still new at the job, so I ran, and the other one I was with helped her. The baby survived, and it was healthy
— Phophi Mudzwiri
Each worker is given 10 plastic bags at the start of the shift, and the team leader follows with extras if needed. “Each can finish more than 20 bags, depending on how dirty the street is,” Mudzwiri said.
But like Ndlovu, she has also faced frightening experiences on the job.
“We come across crime a lot, but these days it’s a bit better. What we mostly come across since we are working close to a lot of flats is when you are working and a person would just pour down water from a flat up high.
“It happens a lot. When I was working in Hillbrow, a person just took out their bathing dish and poured water on me, and you don’t even know if that water has pee or poop.”
Mudzwiri said she has also witnessed disturbing scenes while cleaning, from medical waste to newborn babies in dustbins. “There was a time that we came across a woman giving birth, and she gave birth right in front of us. We had to help her, but I was still new at the job, so I ran, and the other one I was with helped her. The baby survived, and it was healthy.”
December is one of the most dangerous times of the year for them, she added. “December is hectic because some sides are quiet and some are busy. Most of the things that happen usually happen in December, so people who want to rob are active at that time, so we are also not safe on the streets.”
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