News24 reports that the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) has found that news agency Bloomberg did not commit unfair labour practices in a case involving senior journalist Sam Mkokeli.  

He took Bloomberg to the CCMA after a series of warnings which he alleged were unfair.  In December 2018, Bloomberg initiated disciplinary proceedings against the journalist, saying he had violated its social media policy and subsequently issued a written warning.  The warning related to a tweet by Mkokeli on Telecommunications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams.  That same month, the company issued Mkokeli with a final written warning for a retweet relating to the ANC's Pule Mabe.  The CCMA commissioner said:  "The (company’s) social media policy is clear.  It requires all journalists to be responsible for the content of all publications.  It requires journalists, when in doubt, [to] ask questions and tweet later."  He added: "With regard to the tweet concerning the minister of telecommunications, it is common cause that the tweet appeared before Ms Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams was appointed as a minister.  This is a violation of the requirement that all news should break first on the Bloomberg terminal and not on social media.”  The Mabe tweet, the commissioner said, was also a breach of the social media policy.  He concluded that the written warning and final written warning were fair and that Bloomberg had not committed an unfair labour practice.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Azarrah Karrim at News24

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