SABC drops Communication Workers Union it says fell below 500 staffers, CWU slams notice as 'a fabrication and a deception'

by Thinus Ferreira

The SABC has dropped its recognition of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), telling staffers that the trade union will no longer be recognised as a bargaining group since its membership has fallen below the threshold of 500 represented staffers at the South African public broadcaster.

The CWU has slammed the move, saying the SABC's notice issued by Rachel Masuku, the SABC's head of human resources, is "a fabrication and a deception".

The move to scrap the CWU's representation leaves Bemawu as the only recognised trade union for workers at the SABC.

In an internal memo, Rachel Masuku, the SABC's head of human resources, on Monday told SABC staffers that the South African public broadcaster has "terminated" the recognition rights of the CWU.

The SABC says the CWU no longer adheres to, and is in "non-compliance with clause 11.1.4 of the Recognition Agreement".

This agreement stipulates that "In the event of the union membership decreasing to under 500 members in the bargaining unit and the union failing to resolve its representativity within three calendar months or such period as shall be agreed to, the union shall lose its recognition status".

In November 2024 the SABC told the CWU that its membership had fallen to below 500 SABC staffers and was given three months from 19 November to bring its union tally to back over 500.

An extension of a further two months was given to the CWU but it failed to close the 500 threshold.

"CWU will no longer enjoy recognition rights within the SABC with effect from today," Rachel Masuku told SABC staffers in the internal memo on 23 June.

The CWU says it "anticipated" the SABC's move that it calls an "atrocity", noting that the CWU "had suffered the most brutal forms of union bashing".

The CWU says "For over three years, the SABC [has been] guilty of deliberately dragging out wage negotiations for months and months on end, the malicious collapse of the policy negotiations, victimisation of union members, non-compliance to occupational health and safety, unilateral restructuring to terms and conditions of employment, threatening shop stewards who fulfill their duties then subsequently suspending them, then dismissing them, negotiating in bad faith, while for almost a decade the SABC has viciously weaponised the employee relations regime".

The CWU says the trade union "never received an official notice of the illegal derecognition but received the notice via workers" and that "What is contained in the notice to employees as crafted by Rachel Masuku is actually a fabrication and a deception".

The CWU notes that it has filed a dispute with the CCMA in relation to its derecognition at the SABC on 24 June.

"We are calling for a full investigation into the union bashing of the CWU at the SABC, including the dismissal and suspension of its shop stewards".

Mmoni Nugbane, SABC spokesperson, didn't respond to a media query TVwithThinus made on Thursday about the SABC's notification of scrapping its recognition of the CWU as a trade union.

Senior SABC exec investigated over sexual harassment, hasn't been suspended months after victims came forward with claims.

by Thinus Ferreira

A senior executive at South Africa's public broadcaster is being investigated after he has been accused by trade unions of sexual harassment.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) and the Broadcasting, Electronic, Media & Allied Workers Union (Bemawu) have sent a letter to the SABC board accusing the senior level SABC executive of ongoing sexual harassment, the Sunday World newspaper reported.

According to Aubrey Tshabalala, CWU general-secretary, the SABC board was told about the sexual harassment allegations in May 2023 and that former SABC CEO Madoda Mxakwe ordered Thamsanqa Zikode, SABC chief audit executive, to launch an investigation into the allegations.

According to Aubrey Tshabalala, Manno Bopape, a SABC human resources executive, then allegedly threatened and intimidated the alleged sexually abused and sexually harassed victims.

"It is custom as per the SABC policies that the alleged perpetrators should be immediately suspended pending investigation and it should not be different in this instance as this is a very serious allegation, especially given the influential position that (SABC exec) holds," the CWU and Bemawu letter states.

"We cannot allow for preferential treatment to play itself out just because the alleged offender is a senior in the company. We urge the board to also investigate the male/female ratio of people appointed by the executive's department, as it appears to be in favour of females as opposed to males."

"Lastly, we suggest for the board to conduct a climate survey and a reporting line for sexual harassment at the SABC. We pray for the board to move with the necessary speed concerning this very difficult task and journey and confirm our commitment to work with the board in a zest to turn the SABC around and restore its credibility."

Mmoni Seapolelo, SABC spokesperson, says "The SABC views sexual harassment in a serious light and will use its internal policies and procedures to deal with any reported allegations related to it".

SABC trade unions Bemawu and CWU demand answers and an urgent meeting with SABC board before the end of this week over whether staff will get paid at the end of June.

The two big trade unions representing thousands of SABC staffers are demanding answers and an urgent meeting with the SABC board before the end of this week after shocking revelations by the SABC board chairperson on Sunday and the chief financial officer on Monday that the broke SABC can't guarantee the payment of staff salaries in two weeks time at the end of June.

On Sunday, Bongumusa Makhathini, SABC chairperson, warned that the SABC is finally on the verge of collapse with a blackout that could happen any moment.

"I’m not sure how we are going to pay for salaries come end of June," Bongumusa Makhathini said in a report in The Sunday Times.

The SABC that is perilously close to no longer broadcasting hasn't paid for municipal services like electricity at the end of May, choosing to rather pay SABC staff salaries. The SABC now owes the City of Johannesburg more than R13.5 million.

The SABC that is drowning in debt owes the parastatal signal distributor Sentech R317 million and MultiChoice's sports content division SuperSport over R208 million. Beyond that the SABC also owes millions to other content providers like independent South African production companies.

Nothing has so far come of the SABC's plea for a massive R6.8 billion in another government bailout.

On Monday, Yolande van Biljon, the SABC's CFO, warned in an interview with SABC News (DStv 404) that the beleaguered South African public broadcaster's "Day Zero can happen tomorrow" and refused to confirm that SABC staffers will be paid at the end of June.

Yolande van Biljon said that the SABC owes R1.8 billion to hundreds of companies.

On Tuesday Bemawu led by Hannes du Buisson and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) led by Aubrey Tshabalala, in a joint letter demanded an urgent meeting with the SABC board to ensure that SABC staffers will be paid at the end of this month.

Both Bemawu and the CWU demand to know what is happening with the long-delayed government bailout that Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, the current minister of communications, promised.

The SABC urgently needs a cash bailout of R3.2 billion to keep public broadcasting services going in South Africa, while Tito Mboweni, South Africa's minister of finance after his budget speech in February revealed that the SABC now needs a massive R6.8 billion in a government bailout.

In their letter they say that organised labour at the SABC are deeply concerned and unhappy about the way in which staffers are being treated by the SABC board.

Bemawu and the Communication Workers Union say they had to hear in the media that the SABC has reached "Day Zero" - when it can no longer pay anything or staff salaries and will therefore see its broadcasting services seize up - and that workers likely won't be paid by the end of June.

SABC FIRING LINE. 'SABC staff morale at rock-bottom' over plan to axe thousands as execs and union reps talk about 'cutting heads', 'butchering 2 200 people put out on the street', a 'public jamboree', 'milking a stone', 'dire situation', and the unsustainable 'thick layer at management level'.

"SABC staff morale is at rock-bottom" say workers over the SABC's brutal plan to axe up to over 2 000 workers, with executives and trade union representatives who on Tuesday described the looming retrenchment and situation as "cutting heads", "butchering 2 200 people put out on street", a "public jamboree", "milking a stone", a "dire situation", and saying that the "thick layer at management level" is unsustainable.

The beleaguered South African public broadcaster plans to fire up to 981 of its 3 376 full-time workers and do away with 1 200 of its 2 400 freelance workers by February 2019 as the SABC in a massive crisis once again hovers on the brink of financial collapse.

Tuesday started off with a conveyor belt of SABC'ers doing interviews on the public broadcaster's SABC News (DStv 404) channel.

It began with Leanne Manas who interviewed SABC chairperson Bongumusa Makhathini on Morning Live on SABC2 who said "Even if we get a bailout tomorrow, we still need to tackle the cost structure, and the cost structure of the SABC is driven by a number of things. It's labour costs - that R3.1 billion".

(More detail about that interview and possible implications for SA's TV production industry here)

Madoda Mxakwe, SABC CEO, in an interview with SABC News on Tuesday afternoon revealed that freelance workers cost the SABC R25 million per year, SABC executive directors are paid R12 million per year, and that the SABC's group executives are paid R25 million per year.

It means that the SABC's small group of top executives are paid as much as the 2 400 freelance workers employed by the SABC.

"Then there's a very thick layer at management level. You have about 495 managers and the cost of that is about R620 million," said Madoda Mxakwe.

With 3 376 full-time workers, it means that the SABC has one manager for every 7 people.

"What is very clear is that the organisation cannot be sustainable with this current structure."

Madoda Mxakwe said "we have a bloated structure and it doesn't make sense".

"We are now in a dire financial situation. And as a broadcaster we are not able to meet our obligations financially on a month-to-month basis and essentially that affects our ability as a national broadcaster in terms of the public mandate that we have."

Madoda Mxakwe was asked what else the SABC is cutting besides staff. "It's a lot of things. We are looking at travelling, we're looking at accommodation. All of these." He said it's "operational" and that "there's a lot of things that we are doing there".

Hannes du Buisson, Bemawu president, representing the biggest trade union inside the SABC, said Bemawu is shocked and saddened by the decision. "To cut heads, to butcher about 2 200 people, put them out on the street - it's a quick solution but that is not necessarily the correct solution."

Hannes du Buisson told SABC News in an interview on Tuesday that "there seems to be something sinister about this whole process. It seems that the current SABC management are hell-bent to get rid of current SABC employees and then want to fill those positions with other people from outside the SABC".

Hannes du Buisson said SABC staffers are "gravely concerned" since South Africa's national election is coming up in 2019. "The SABC traditionally would hire more people for that particular period of the election".

"Going into election coverage with SABC staff morale at rock-bottom is not going to serve the public of South Africa."

Aubrey Tshabalala, secretary-general of the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) said the trade union was similarly shocked by the SABC's decision to start with planned retrenchments "and what we term as a public jamboree".

"This management seems to have run out of ideas," he said. "When we look at these managers we are basically milking a stone here."

Aubrey Tshabalala said over-the-top (OTT) streaming services like Showmax, Netflix South Africa, Amazon Prime Video and others "broadcasting for free in this country they must pay a certain levy to balance the equation in terms of the funding model of the SABC".

"It must sink in in these executive members this is what you're driving: A public broadcaster. So if they are not fit to run a public broadcaster, they must tell us so that we can look into that area."

Jonathan Thekiso, the SABC's group HR boss, said  the SABC is also "looking to claw back in excess of R60 million" from former and existing executives and staffers at the broadcaster "which is as a result of irregular appointments, irregular salary increases and irregular promotions".

From the now-fired former SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng the SABC wants "back an amount in excess of R32 million" said Jonathan Thekiso.

Asked about staff and executive who were fired, decided to leave and got purged under Hlaudi Motsoeneng's reign of terror at the SABC with the help of so-called "Hlaudi-enforcers", Jonathan Thekiso said "the SABC needs to ensure that it extends apologies to those respective employees who got purged, who were compromised as a result of activities of the previous administration".

"So the SABC is in the process of issuing such apologies to the respective people."

About the SABC's planned firing of staffers, Jonathan Thekiso said "the SABC's wage bill is sitting at almost half of revenue". He said "the SABC right now is in a very, very bad shape. We are in a dire financial situation right now and one of the major cost drivers is essentially our wage bill."

Asked about why the salaries of top SABC executives are not being revealed, Jonathan Thekiso said "we have been very clear that the issue of divulging the salaries of senior executives" can't happen because it gets published in the SABC's annual report and must first be audited.