Labour Union, Bemawu says SABC top executives are expected to hand over the Section 189 notice regarding retrenchments at the public broadcaster in the upcoming week.
The SABC has been forced to withdraw the notice served on broadcast union Bemawu and the Communication Workers Union following a meeting on Friday.
Bemawu President, Hannes Du Buisson says the SABC conceded that they had not supplied all the information in the notice as required by the Labour Relations Act.
He says it was quite shocking at the time of the meeting that the SABC had not calculated the number of employees that they were contemplating on dismissing.
He says the management said the reason for that is they wanted the unions to be involved in that process and they refused to do that because they do not believe that people should lose their jobs.
“They will now calculate that, they said within the next three or four days and they will then provide that information and serve the new notice,” says Du Buisson.
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Meanwhile SABC Chief Operations Officer, Chris Maroleng, says the public broadcaster’s current financial situation has forced management to be circumspect with any possible future deals. This after the SABC announced that it will not be broadcasting any national team matches – including the next two Bafana Bafana Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers at home. Negotiations between the public broadcaster and the South African Football Association have reached a deadlock regarding the broadcast right of matches and tournaments. SAFA reportedly requested for 10 times more than the SABC previously paid for matches. Maroleng says the request is substantially more than deals signed with the English Premier League and Cricket SA…
“This is interesting to consider, the manner in which with the rights holders for the broadcast rights for the EPL. We were really able to acquire these rights at a very low and commercially viable amount. Similarly with cricket South Africa, we entered into an agreement with them. This was done in a way which was both commercially viable for Cricket SA and indeed the SABC. The SABC, because of our financial position, is no more in a position where it can enter into commercially unviable sports arrangements, agreements and deals.
Saturday’s AFCON qualifier between South Africa and the Seychelles will not be broadcast on the SABC’s television platforms or radio stations.
