ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule has admitted the party cannot dictate to the SABC on what processes to follow regarding looming retrenchments.
Magashule was clarifying a statement he made on Friday, in which he said the ANC would not allow the retrenchments at the public broadcaster to go ahead. He now says the party respects the independence of state owned entities, but still discourages retrenchments at SOEs.
Magashule says they can explore other means of dealing with their financial woes.
“SABC as an employer, we can’t dictate to them but we are saying they need to do something, we are discouraging, whether in the mining industry, whether in the pubic broadcaster, whether in the state owned entities, we are saying halt retrenchments because SA is going through a tough time, find other ways and methods of making sure you can recover as the state broadcaster.”
Magashule’s latest comments come after the SABC Board issued a statement expressing concern about the statement he made about retrenchments Friday.
Earlier this week, the SABC announced that it will have to lay off staff as part of it’s cost cutting measure. The SABC currently has a R1.3 billion debt and an annual salary bill of R3.1 billion. In a statement, the public broadcaster’s board says the current trend cannot be allowed to continue. The board has also warned that it will not allow any organisation or entity to interfere in the execution of its duties. Trade Union Bemawu is threatening legal action against the SABC.
SABC Statement Below:
The SABC Board notes with concern the recent reported statements by the Secretary General of the African National Congress (ANC), Mr Ace Magashule, where he indicated that the ANC had made a decision not to “allow” the section 189 process currently underway at the SABC. This reported statement has caused some confusion amongst our employees and other stakeholders.
In this context, the SABC believes it is necessary to confirm that the Board has the exclusive power in terms of section 13(11) of the Broadcasting Act, 1999 to “control the affairs of the Corporation”. This includes how the SABC operates the business of the public broadcaster and conducts labour relations with its employees.
No person, organisation or entity is permitted to interfere with how the SABC Board exercises its power in terms of section 13(11) of the Broadcasting Act. Any interference would be in contravention of the law and a recent court judgement to this effect.
The SABC Board has inherited an organisation in a financial crisis as a result of many years of failures in governance, maladministration and poor decision-making. The SABC currently has a R1.3 billion debt and an annual salary bill of R3,1 billion. This is clearly not sustainable for an organisation that generates R7,2 billion in revenue and had financial losses of over R622 million in past financial year. Being a responsible Board, we cannot sit by and not act. This would be irresponsible and reckless on our part. The Board of the SABC assures all its employees and stakeholders that we will continue to uphold our fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of the Corporation.
