The Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, has called on the employees of the SABC to exercise restraint and patience during this period of intervention by the department and Parliament regarding the looming retrenchments.
This follows an urgent meeting held by Ndabeni-Abrahams and the SABC Board on Tuesday night.
The purpose of the meeting was for the Board and executive management of the SABC to account to the Minister on the merits of continuing with the retrenchment process currently under way, in light of developments at the public broadcaster.
In the video below, unhappy SABC employees express their frustration over recent developments:
The SABC will appear before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Communications on Wednesday to provide an account of the retrenchment process, and any contingencies they have in place to mitigate the current strife with employees and unions.
CWU describes Magopeni’s action as a ‘temporary victory’
Meanwhile, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) says the announcement by SABC Group Executive of News Phathiswa Magopeni that she cannot continue issuing letters of redundancy under the current climate is a temporary victory.
In the video below, CWU says SABC top management can never be trusted:
Magopeni made the announcement during a heated meeting between news staff and management at the SABC‘s headquarters in Auckland Park.
An urgent meeting was called as some of the 400 staff members affected by the planned retrenchments continued receiving letters.
The process of issuing letters was supposed to be concluded by Wednesday.
BEMAWU reacts to recent developments at the SABC
Broadcasting, Electronic, Media & Allied Workers Union (BEMAWU) president Hannes du Buisson has praised Magopeni for her decisive action, saying the SABC needs to resume consultations with unions and staff.
“We want to commend her for that brave stance that she took because she realised at the time that she was confronted in the newsroom that there are serious problems. The suggestions that have been made by the SABC in terms of the structure is not doable, we think that we must go back to the table as we’ve requested. There should be a proper consultation meeting where the staff members can give their input,” adds Du Buisson.
