The City of Johannesburg’s waste management company‚ Pikitup‚ has threatened to involve the police if their services get disrupted on Friday.

This follows reports of an alleged plan to disrupt waste collection services in the city.

According to spokesperson Muzi Mkhwanazi‚ protests are planned for outside the Selby deport on Friday.

Mkhwanazi said Pikitup would not hesitate to get authorities involved.

“Our mandate is to ensure that the city is clean. If anyone prevents us from carrying out this mandate‚ it then becomes a criminal matter‚” he said.

Mkhwanazi added that if protests did erupt‚ as per the rumours‚ they would have no choice but to involve the Johannesburg Metro Police Department‚ as well as SAPS.

The threat to protest is contained in an email that has been circulated by a former Jozi@Work employee. The email calls for city residents seeking employment to report to their nearest Pikitup depot on Friday morning to demand jobs.

“It is your right as a Joburg resident to demand that the jobs be given to you not import labour from Mzimkhulu while we are unemployed‚ also should they not employ us all community leaders advise your people not to allow Pikitup to work in your area‚” the letter reads.

It is understood that the disgruntled group is made up of people who failed to secure employment with Pickitup after the Jozi@work project was scrapped by mayor Herman Mashaba in 2017.

Mkhwanazi said some people failed to obtain employment because of the verification processes‚ which included having identity documentation‚ previous contract of employment‚ and banking details.

He also pointed to budget availability as one of the obstacles preventing the hiring of more people.

“We can only do so much with the available resources‚” he said.