South African Communist Party (SACP) General Secretary Blade Nzimande has condemned possible retrenchments at different state-owned enterprises including the SABC.
In the video below, Bemawu reacts to the news on the SABC:
Nzimande says his party’ concern about the number of retrenchments that have been announced by some SOE ‘.
This comes after the public broadcaster issued a notice saying it could retrench 600 employees – citing the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its cashflow.
He was speaking at virtual address held by the Young Communist League in commemoration Youth Month.
Nzimande called on young people to defend the SOEs and protect workers from retrenchments.
Bailout in 2019
Currently, the SABC has 3 011 employees.
In 2019, the government announced that the public broadcaster would receive a R3.2 bailout.
The bailout was granted under stringent conditions.
These included the public broadcaster submitting a list of identified initiatives for revenue enhancement and cost-cutting initiatives, and thorough investigation into the cause of its financial collapse.
In January 2019, the organisation was declared technically insolvent after a struggle with paying its creditors.
In the video below, Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams outlines conditions of the 2019 bailout:
