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JOHANNESBURG. – As many as a thousand permanent SABC employees may lose their jobs in awidespread restructuring of the national broadcaster.
Some 1,200 freelancers will also be affected.
However, Phumzile Van Damme, DA Shadow Minister of Communications said yesterday that they were in possession of a memorandum sent to SABC staff indicating that the public broadcaster is considering retrenching up to 2200 staff effective on 1 February 2019.
The company has issued a notice to all staff informing them of possible retrenchments.
All employees at all levels will be affected by the exercise, which is expected to save the struggling broadcaster around R440-million.
The process was halted following a meeting earlier this month.
The SABC is also approaching the Labour Court, to recover money irregularly paid as salary increases.
In 2014, a report by the Public Protector documented irregular appointments, promotions and salary increases of some employees that are no longer with the company.
Van Damme in a statement posted on politicsweb says:
“Of serious concern is that this is to take place without the SABC having conducted a proper employee audit, which means staff who should not lose their jobs might end up doing so. The DA is reliably informed that SABC management simply went from office to office asking managers if there were staff in their units that could be retrenched.
“Before considering retrenching staff, the SABC ought to have conducted a proper independent skills audit to asses which staff it still needs, and those that are no longer needed, similar to the one conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the SABC in 2013.
“Similarly, a salary audit would have revealed where inflated salaries that need to be reduced exist, which would have resulted in savings, particularly at mid- and top-level management level. To date, the SABC refuses to reveal how much its new top management earns, creating the impression of fat cats earning massive salaries while planning to retrench 2200 subordinates.
“The retrenchment process also appears haphazard and illogical. As an example, the SABC has resolved to end the contracts it has with approximately 1200 freelance employees. Some of its freelance employees include drawcard and popular anchors such as Sakina Kamwendo, Redi Thlabi and Robert Marwara. Furthermore, while having placed a moratorium on the advertising of new positions the SABC continues to do so.
“This does not inspire confidence of management well-informed of its staff component and conducting retrenchments with sound basis,” reads the statement.
Van Damme adds: “The DA will not allow the SABC to play Russian Roulette with the jobs of its staff. Therefore, we will be writing to the SABC’s CEO requesting that an independent HR audit be conducted, and the results thereof tabled in Parliament and made public. Parliament, the public, and indeed SABC staff need to see and understand the sound rationale behind these retrenchments.” – eNCA/Politicsweb
Online Reporter