In a possible repeat of last November 2017 when strike action damaged the South African public broadcaster in a wage strike, staffers at the struggling SABC are again threatening the broadcaster with a shutdown strike.
It comes as SABC top brass are planning to implement a massive and brutal retrenchment plan that could see up to one in three workers getting fired by February 2019 (981 of 3 376), along with half of all freelancers (1 200 of 2 400).
Angry, fearful and resentful SABC staffers inside the corridors of the commercially insolvent public broadcaster are openly saying "the SABC is a fiasco right now".
The bloated SABC currently has 443 middle managers who on average earn R1.17 million each and collectively make up R518 million of the wage bill.
In some instances the SABC has one manager for one person in a 1:1 ratio and in others one manager for 3 people. Meanwhile the SABC is bogged down by six different management layers.
SABC staffers picketed during their lunch hour on Friday at the SABC's Auckland Park headquarters in Johannesburg, as well as at the SABC's regional offices in Pretoria and in Bloemfontein.
It happened despite the SABC's boss of human resources, Jonathan Thekiso, who threatened them on Wednesday in an internal memo that the SABC will be taking "disciplinary action" against workers who take part in it.
It's not yet clear against how many workers Jonathan Thekiso's HR division will be taking disciplinary action following the public protest.
Later on Friday, Jonathan Thekiso, in an interview on SABC News (DStv 404) said it "would have been disastrous for all employees to have joined the picket between 12:00 and 13:00" and were away from their desks at the same time.
Jonathan Thekiso said the SABC is in a "dire financial situation" and that SABC staffers are "very, very distressed, people are extremely demotivated".
SABC workers handed over a memorandum on Friday afternoon to SABC management.
Trade unions at the SABC are unanimously demanding that the SABC management reverse its retrenchment notification.
Unions are also demanding a response and giving the SABC a 7-day deadline to respond by Friday, 16 November after which they say they will give the broadcaster a 48-hour strike notice and shut down the SABC.
"We will give the SABC a 48-hour strike notice and shut down the broadcaster," said Aubrey Tshabalala, secretary-general of the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) on Friday as a memorandum with demands were handed to management.
Other demands include switching all freelancers - 2 400 currently - to permanent SABC workers, a switch from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting (DTT), an improved funding model for the SABC, and the elimination of consultation firms.
Hannes du Buisson, president of the The Broadcasting, Electronic, Media and Allied Workers' Union (Bemawu) said "we ask that this process be stopped, that there be a task team appointed to investigate the SABC's revenue streams".
"We also ask that the government who is responsible for the mess that the SABC finds itself in, that they take responsibility and accountability and start funding the SABC in full as a public broadcaster".
Bemawu also demanded that the SABC withdraw its threat of taking disciplinary action against workers who decide to picket during their lunch hour.
The SABC in a terse statement late on Friday said "The SABC has noted the peaceful picketing and protests which took place at the various SABC offices around the country by Bemawu and the CWU".
"Memoranda were delivered by the respective unions and the SABC will review the memoranda and respond to organised labour."
