Timeslive reports that the SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) says it will scrupulously follow the Labour Relations Act (LRA) in respect of possible retrenchments at the financially struggling public broadcaster.  

Chairman of the board, Bongumusa Makhathini, on Tuesday addressed the National Assembly's portfolio committee on communications at an urgent meeting convened to deal with issues related to the SABC.  He told MPs that it was not an accurate reflection that the corporation’s turnaround strategy only focused on retrenching staff and that such a notion ignored that a lot of work that was being done to drive the corporation forward.  Makhathini pointed out that in 2009 one of the Treasury’s conditions for a government guarantee to the broadcaster was that it should reduce employee costs in order to be sustainable, but in 2018 employee costs were still the biggest cost driver and continued to be out of step as a percentage of revenue.  “It is sitting at about 42% of the total revenue‚ which is an anomaly‚” said Makhathini.  He restated that with regards to section 189 of the LRA “that is a very tightly drafted legislation requirement and processes which the SABC intends to follow to the letter”.  He confirmed that the SABC had engaged with organised labour and employees to communicate to them that the broadcaster contemplated embarking on the section 189 (i.e. retrenchment) process.

• Read this report by Andisiwe Makinana in full at Timeslive
• Read too, SABC consulting workers on restructuring, possible retrenchments, at The Citizen
• And also, SABC executives mum on employee numbers in retrenchment plan, at SABC News

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page