Pikitup service providers sink into debt amid unpaid invoices

Companies who are contracted to Pikitup claim to have been plunged into financial distress as the waste management entity continues to fall behind on invoice payments.

According to several service providers, the recurring disruptions to waste collection services are largely due to millions of rand in unpaid invoices dating back to May 2025.

The contractors provide services in Randburg, Midrand, Marlboro and Soweto – areas that were among the hardest hit during waste collection disruptions earlier this year. They say many of their trucks are standing idle because they cannot afford diesel.

Pikitup owes my company more than R50m for services rendered. Collectively, the 40 service providers are owed close to R1bn—  Pikitup contractor

Sowetan spoke to two service providers who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals. One contractor claimed Pikitup owed his company more than R50m in outstanding payments dating back to the previous financial year.

“Pikitup owes my company more than R50m for services rendered. Collectively, the 40 service providers are owed close to R1bn,” he said.

The contractor said he began working with Pikitup in 2020 and his contracts had been renewed every two years. According to him, payments were initially made on time, but problems began in 2024.

“I provide Pikitup with 17 compactor trucks used for waste collection. I also provide labour, and my workforce consists of 70 employees,” he said.

He said the delayed payments had left him heavily indebted, with loans amounting to R8m. His overdraft facilities have been exhausted.

“It’s bad. We cannot even repair our trucks, and many of them are no longer roadworthy because we cannot afford maintenance. I am a small business and if you owe me R50m, you are killing me,” he said.

The contractor added that he may be unable to pay employee salaries at the end of September because the company has run out of cash.

In a recent interview with Sunday Times, Pikitup chair Maxwell Nedzamba blamed the Johannesburg metro’s financing model for the waste collection crisis in the city. He said the policy governing the city’s coffers needed an overhaul.

“There is a cash flow challenge in the entire City of Johannesburg. There are a lot of competing interests. You’ll find that with Pikitup our challenge is insourcing employees. With another entity like City Power, they’ll be owing Eskom, with Joburg Water owing Rand Water. With a situation like that, you’ve got to look at which you’ve got to address before the other.”

Our businesses are not growing. I had 23 trucks when I started, but over the years the bank repossessed many of them. I am now left with 11 trucks, and six of those could also be repossessed—  Another service provider

The City of Johannesburg operates using a “sweeping” arrangement, where revenue collected from various entities gets placed in one account and redistributed across the city.

“If Pikitup collects R150m a week, in normal circumstances those proceeds [would] come back to the entity. But all the money goes to the main account, and at the main account they look at the main priorities, which are competing, and allocate accordingly,” Nedzamba said.

Another service provider, owed R53m, said the bank was on the verge of repossessing several of his trucks before the end of the month. He said he needed to raise R10m to ensure his remaining fleet could stay operational.

“Our businesses are not growing. I had 23 trucks when I started, but over the years the bank repossessed many of them. I am now left with 11 trucks, and six of those could also be repossessed,” he said.

The contractor told Sowetan he is also struggling to meet personal financial obligations. “I have an outstanding bond arrears of R98,000 and my daughter is close to being suspended from school because I have not been able to pay her school fees.”

Pikitup spokesperson Muzi Mkhwanazi had not responded by Tuesday afternoon despite being sent questions on Friday last week.

The service providers said labour-related disputes were not the only reason for disruptions to waste collection services. They argued that Pikitup’s failure to pay contractors had played a significant role in the stoppages.

“They hide the fact that we are the ones halting services because we cannot afford to continue delivering services when we are not being paid,” one contractor said.

“The delays in waste collection happened because we pulled the plug. They also have a tendency to bring in service providers from other communities to collect unremoved waste during the night so they can cover up the extent of the problem.”