Battle lines have been drawn in the SABC saga as workers approach the courts, some threatening a blackout on the airwaves, and board members reveal the extent of their division on planned job cuts.
Adding to this is the involvement of ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, who warned party MPs and “deployees” on the board to fall in line and support the call to ensure that job losses at the broadcaster are averted. The SABC has often needed government bailouts to keep operating,
The call by Magashule, seen as President Cyril Ramaphosa’s rival in the ANC, comes as the government struggles to wean parastatals from the fiscus and make them commercially viable.
Communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, who has blocked previous retrenchment attempts at the SABC, leading to the resignation of some board members in 2018, entered the fray this week calling on the broadcaster to consider other alternatives
The Broadcasting, Electronic, Media and Allied Workers Union (Bemawu), which counts 1,300 SABC staffers among its members, indicated on Thursday it would approach the Labour Court after the public broadcaster cut consultations with the union.
The Communications Workers Union called for the retrenchments notices to be retracted and for the SABC board to be dissolved. The union wants the broadcaster placed under administration.
Workers threatened a blackout on Friday.
The SABC board appeared before parliament’s communications committee on Wednesday night to discuss the proposed job cuts that could affect 400 of about 3,000 staff. It emerged there that at least five nonexecutive directors of the 12-member board opposed retrenchment, which has been on the table since 2018.
Board chair Bongumusa Makhathini said on Wednesday that job cuts were unavoidable if the public broadcaster was to avert a collapse similar to those at national carrier SAA or state-owned arms maker Denel. He said that only a government agreement to grant SABC at least R1bn a year would avert job cuts, “but we know government doesn’t have money. We have no choice.”
However, his deputy Mamodupi Mohlala-Mulaudzi told MPs that at least five members of the board including her opposed the cuts. She said various options should be considered, including pay cuts across the board. The SABC, which has a wage bill of more than R3bn a year for its 3,000 permanent staff, received a conditional R3.2bn bailout from the government late in 2019, which it used to pay off most of its debt and invest in content. Part of the conditions included reducing the salary bill. Management has said it wants to reduce it by at least R700m.
“We don’t want to leave a legacy that we are the board that came and fired people,” Mohlala-Mulaudzi said.
Another board member Marry Papaya echoed Mohlala-Mulaudzi’s views, saying other options should be considered instead of job cuts.
But board member Michael Markovitz said retrenchments were necessary for the broadcaster to be sustainable. He also said a lot of investors were looking at the SABC situation to assess the government’s commitment to stabilise the country’s finances.
“The SABC is technically insolvent. As directors we have a duty to address this, the cost base is not sustainable. It is tragic for people to lose their jobs ... but we are the ones who arrived at the scene of the car crash after years of malfeasance and we being blamed for it ... We don’t want to rely on bailouts, we want to be sustainable,” Markovitz said.
Boyce Maneli, chair of the communications portfolio committee, said retrenchments were premature and the SABC should consider other options.
The board was due to hold a special meeting on Thursday. In response to questions from Business Day ahead of the meeting, Makhathini said MPs can only advise and suggest “but only the SABC board has authority to make decisions pertaining to the running and management of the SABC”.
“Today’s meeting’s purpose is to consider all ideas. The board resolution on retrenchments has a condition to continuously explore ways of minimising the impact on people while complying and adhering to the bailout conditions and ensure the financial sustainability of the SABC,” Makhathini said.
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