Faizel Patel – 25/11/2020
The president of the Broadcasting, Electronic, Media & Allied Workers Union (Bemawu) says the SABC’s extension of retrenchment suspensions is disingenuous.
The SABC board again extended the suspension to the end of December to allow for further consultations.
There has been widespread condemnation after management indicated that it would go ahead with plans to retrench workers to cut costs, with at least 400 workers who may lose their jobs.
Plans to restructure and slash costs at the SABC will only be finalised at the beginning of 2021.
Speaking to Radio Islam on Wednesday, Bemawu’s Hannes du Buisson say they met with the SABC on Tuesday to discuss the retrenchments.
“We asked the SABC to withdraw those termination letters if they are genuine and sincere about this process and they refused. They simply said they are not going to withdraw those letters, they will simply suspend them. So that means that the decision the SABC has taken remains intact.”
Du Buisson says group executive of human resources at the public broadcaster reneged on an agreement to redeploy staff affected by retrenchments.
“The group executive of human resources had clearly said in that meeting that parties will meet to populate the structure and redeploy, that never happened. That is why we are heading for the labour court on Friday and we want those letters to be retracted if the SABC is sincere. They’ve just removed the lid of the pressure cooker.”
Meanwhile Communications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams on Tuesday said that she was determined to support efforts aimed at finding an amicable solution to the financial problems facing the public broadcaster.
Listen to the interview with Hannes du Buisson
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