Newzroom Afrika will give "special consideration" to former Afro Worldview staffers, but this doesn't mean that they will be hired. Also not all Afro Worldview staff will apply.
MultiChoice dumped Afro Worldview last week as it said it would at the beginning of 2018, leaving 300 people jobless who were employed at the former Gupta-owned ANN7 that shut down after 5 years mired in allegations of corruption and of being a propaganda channel.
The owners of Newzroom Afrika, Thokozani Nkosi and Thabile Ngwato on Tuesday said they would give "special consideration" to people who have worked at Afro Worldview and who apply for positions - not advertised yet - at Newzroom Afrika.
That however doesn't they will get jobs.
In an email to Afro Worldview staffers, Mzwanele Manyi told them that details about their salaries will be communicated soon. Mzwanele Manyi said there's no further future for Afro Worldview and that operations have to shut down.
Mzwanele Manyi told staffers not to hope that they'll get employed by Newzroom Afrika and to search for other employment opportunities without waiting. Contracts of Afro Worldview staffers are not being formally terminated.
Meanwhile the Communication Workers Union (CWU) wants to meet with Mzwanele Manyi to negotiate severance packages for staffers.
The South African National Editors Forum (Sanef) said it welcomes the commitment by Newzroom Afrika to give "special consideration" to Afr Worldview staffers for possible jobs.
"Sanef notes the fact that the channel is 100% black owned and 50% women owned. We also note MultiChoice and Newzroom Afrika's stated commitment to journalism ethics and independence and the decision to establish an oversight body," said Sanef in a statement.
"We will be carefully watching this space to see if the new channel's commitments are upheld. We also keenly await their announcements in early 2019 about their programming offerings and line-up."
