The Broadcasting, Electronic, Media & Allied Workers Union (Bemawu) says it is ready to approach the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) over the SABC’s decision to dismiss employees who are believed to have been irregularly appointed.
The public broadcaster says the 13 employees were appointed without following proper processes when former chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng was at the helm of the organisation.
They were handed letters of dismissal this week.
Bemawu president Hannes du Buisson says, “We disagree with the SABC that those people were irregularly appointed. [Earlier,] the SABC attempted to have their appointments overturned at the Labour Court. The court refused to help the SABC and then they [SABC] went ahead and dismissed them [those employees] without a hearing and without them being at fault.”
“We are busy referring disputes on everyone’s behalf to the CCMA. There is quite a number of administrative work, a lot of paperwork, but we are in process and hopefully, we will be in the CCMA in a short while,” explains Du Buisson.
In February, the Labour Court dimissed the SABC’s application to review and set aside the appointment and promotion of 27 of its employees.
In the video below, Labour Court dismisses SABC’s application to reverse irregular appointments:
In its application, the public broadcaster had argued that the appointments and promotions were irregular as proper processes were not followed.
The presiding judge ruled that the Labour Court had no jurisdiction on the matter.
In the video below, SABC respond to Labour Court ruling:
