Oh SABC. Where would we be without you?
It seems the SABC is being visited by Mister Hankey the Christmas poo. No, the SABC didn't sign the rights to South Park - SABC workers are crying foul and claim that they're subjected to the unbearable stench of - to put it nicely - ''pungent sewer-effluence in the air''.
The Media Workers Association of South Africa (Mwasa), one of the unions representing SABC workers, now claim that traumatised workers in the SABC's rented offices in Nelspruit can't cope with the foul smell of the you-know-what odours they have to endure. For weeks Mwasa has claimed - and continues to - that the SABC's Nelspruit offices is simply not fit for human habitation while extensive construction work is taking place in and around the building.
Last week SABC staff refused to enter the SABC building in Nelspruit with Mwasa calling it ''a deathtrap'' and Mwasa saying it could ''collapse any time''. Mwasa general secretary Tuwani Gumani said the building was ''rotten'' and a ''mining site''.
Last week the SABC issued a press release responding to the claims of the building's unsafety during construction and said ''a structural engineer has confirmed that the building has no structural defects and is therefore considered safe''. That's after the department of labour in Mpumalanga did a routine inspection in June ''and indentified issues inside and outside the building'' which is not getting attention in the form of construction on the premises. The SABC says that according to the department of labour there is now ''nothing structurally wrong with the building. Entrance with the scaffolding did not pose a danger and it's safe.
SABC workers are not happy and are now kicking up a stench about the stench, calling the SABC ''uncaring'' and promising ''strong action'' over ''the experiences of the pungent sewer-effluence hanging in the air inside and outside the building''. ''We just cannot allow anybody to be subjected to this state of affairs whilst we squander money to celebrate the SABC's 75 years,'' says Mwasa.
The SABC has so far not responded about the workers' airing their complaint about the air quality.
