The court has ordered the shamed Hlaudi Motsoeneng, the controversial former SABC COO, and the SABC's former head of news Simon Tebele to personally pay the legal costs of the so-called "SABC8" journalists the two of them unjustly fired last year.
The Labour Court has refused Hlaudi Motsoeneng and Simon Tebele's application for leave to appeal the court's former ruling ordering them to pay the legal costs of the journalists. The application was denied with costs.
Hlaudi Motsoeneng said "I'm very disappointed".
It means that the shamed executives have no more options - they are responsible and must pay the legal costs of the trade unions Solidarity and the Broadcasting, Electronic, Media and Allied Workers Union (Bemawu) who represented the fired journalists that the court ordered to be re-instated.
The 8 journalists were illegally fired by the SABC after they refused to go along and protested the SABC's unilaterally introduced TV news censorship policy of Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
"Solidarity has made it clear many a time that it would not rest until Hlaudi Motsoeneng and Simon Tebele have paid the money in their personal capacity as ordered by the court," said Anton van der Bijl, the head of Solidarity's Centre for Fair Labour Practices.
"Hlaudi Motsoeneng is painting himself into a corner in an attempt to evade justice."
