SABC fire prompts evacuation of Radio Park building after cafeteria blaze, 15 people taken to hospital after smoke inhalation.

A fire at the SABC that broke out on Tuesday morning prompted the evacuation of its Radio Park building with 9 (now 15) people who were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation - the second mass evacuation at the cash-strapped South African public broadcaster within two months.

The fire broke out inside the cafeteria located close to the studios of the 5FM and Metro FM radio stations, prompting the evacuation of the building.

The fire - apparently electrical - was extinguished, although the cause has not yet been determined or confirmed.

Similar to last month, the evacuation prompted immediate changes to the production of the SABC's radio stations and their programming, including the Afrikaans station RSG that switched to producing from its Cape Town studio in Sea Point.

There's not been a statement from the SABC yet.

The same Radio Park building was evacuated last month during a diesel spill that saw thousands of litres of diesel flood the building and down the elevator shaft when a power outage caused the building to switch to its back-up power generator located on the 15th floor. "A failure of the equipment led to the diesel tank overflowing," the SABC said last month.

SABC executives, as well as former and current SABC board members have been warning for months that the SABC has stopped and failed to do maintenance due to the broadcaster's precarious financial position with the SABC hovering on the edge of collapse and warning that the SABC's "Day Zero" and a black-on-air situation could happen any day.

In November 2018, the former SABC board member Mathatha Tsedu told and warned parliament and the minister of communications that the SABC is turning into a potential death trap.

"We haven't maintained our buildings for a very long time. Last week a huge chunk fell from the reception of the Radio Park building. The people responsible for the maintenance of our buildings have been warning that there are cracks there - something is going to happen. But we don't have the money. We're only dealing with what is broadcast critical," he said.

"If there is a crack up there and it doesn't stop us from going on air, we will not fix it until that rock falls down. And one day, it is going to fall on someone."

On Tuesday afternoon, Jonathan Thekiso, the SABC's head of human resources, came to address SABC staffers who were milling about outside the entrance of the Radio Park building, to tell them that the building has been declared to be safe again and that they should go back to work.

ER24 staffers, along with other private services, rushed to the SABC where they alongside the City of Johannesburg Fire Services that was already on the scene, started helping patients. SABC staffers were treated on site in a triage area, and were also moved to various hospitals for treatment.


UPDATE Tuesday 25 June 2019  15:05 - The SABC in a statement on Tuesday afternoon says that its "Radio Park building has been declared safe for occupation, following the fire which broke out earlier today". 

"An initial assessment indicates that the fire started in a secluded area of the canteen, where an electrical distribution board is located. The fire was contained almost immediately," says Vuto Mthembu, SABC spokesperson. 

"All employees occupying the building were successfully evacuated; however a few employees have since been taken to hospital for observation as a result of inhalation of smoke. The canteen is currently closed for further assessment and operations continue as normal."


UPDATE Tuesday 25 June 2019  17:27 - ER24 spokesperson Russel Meiring says "15 people have been hospitalised following the SABC fire at Auckland Park.

'We will shut down the SABC,' warn staffers as protesting SABC workers threaten new strike action at the public broadcaster over brutal retrenchment plan.

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."

SABC personnel boss, Jonathan Thekiso, threatens SABC staffers before Friday's public protest action, saying the SABC will take 'disciplinary action' against workers who picket during their lunch break.

In a unintentionally hilarious inside memo widely doing the rounds in South Africa's TV industry and causing a lot of laughs, the personnel boss of the South African public broadcaster, Jonathan Thekiso, is warning SABC staffers that the SABC will take "disciplinary action" against anyone who takes part in Friday's planned protest action during their lunch break.

The apparently confused Jonathan Thekiso appears to be under the impression that a company or the South African public broadcaster can tell workers what they are allowed and not allowed to do during their lunch hour away from their desks: like if they're allowed to use the toilet, maybe go to Clicks, or buy a KFC Streetwise 5 - or not.

The beleaguered SABC plans to fire up to 981 of its 3 376 full-time staffers - a third of its total workforce, and will effectively fire 1 200 or half of its 2 400 freelance workers who will be gone by February 2019 in a brutal and massive planned retrenchment process that has SABC staffers up in arms.

Public protest action kicked off yesterday when SABC staffers, including basically all SABC News (DStv 404) on-air talent wore black in "mourning" of the highly criticised retrenchment plan.

Up next is Friday's public picketing at the SABC's Auckland Park headquarters in Johannesburg and at the SABC's regional offices countrywide. According to the Bemawu and CWU trade unions, this weekday picketing during the lunch hour will continue for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile momentum is building around yet another SABC strike, similar to the one in November 2017.

Before Friday's planned public protest and lunch hour picketing, Jonathan Thekiso, the SABC's head of human resources, in an internal SABC memo is telling SABC staffers that they are not allowed to take part in public picketing action during their lunch.

"The SABC wishes to reiterate that the planned 'total shutdown and or so-called peaceful demonstration' during lunchtime on Friday, 9 November 2018 is not in compliance with legislation ... and employees participating in such action will be subjected to disciplinary action," says Jonathan Thekiso.

No "shutdown" of the SABC is planned by SABC staffers on Friday, although Jonathan Thekiso apparently listened to the rumour-mill that's in overdrive inside SABC corridors as fear and anger over the draconian retrenchment plan are spreading.

Oddly, the SABC as the South African public broadcaster is supposed to support freedom of speech, freedom of self-expression, and to promote people voicing their opinions, but is once again trying to censor people and to clamp down on South Africans' basic rights.

Phumzile Van Damme, a member of parliament of the Democratic Alliance (DA) political party, in a statement on Thursday said that "it is not the SABC's business what its staff do during their lunchtime, and it is well within their rights to engage in protest".

"We have been informed by staff that no 'total shutdown' is planned, and it was a falsehood spread by the SABC that one was planned."

"The SABC's response to the protest is indicative of an authoritarian creep in an SABC that is bungling its retrenchment process."

"We maintain that a full-scale skill and salary audit should have been conducted to prevent arbitrary job losses at the public broadcaster," says Phumzile Van Damme.

"The SABC board and management are due to appear before the communications committee next week Tuesday and the DA will not hesitate to take on the SABC for its insensitive, arrogant and poor management of its retrenchment process."

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.

SABC tells staffers the public broadcaster is undeterred and 'remains on course' with its retrenchment process to downsize its ballooning wage bill.

The SABC has told staffers at the beleaguered South African public broadcaster that it is undeterred and "remains on course" with its retrenchment process to downsize its ballooning wage bill.

On Tuesday Jonathan Thekiso, the SABC's head of human resources, in an internal SABC memo to staffers at the cash-strapped broadcaster, told staffers the SABC's board and top executives remain committed on following the retrenchment plan that was started.

"In line with our commitment of ensuring transparency, please note that this process remains on course, as approved by the board," Jonathan Thekiso told SABC personnel.

"Since we announced that the SABC contemplates implementing section 189 of the Labour Relations Act, there have been many confusing messages emanating from various stakeholders on this process," Jonathan Thekiso told SABC staffers, and noted that the SABC will "keep all employees fully informed of any developments in this matter".

There's been a chorus of criticism over the SABC's plan to fire hundreds of workers.

Nomvula Mokonyane, South Africa's minister of communications, on Monday slammed the SABC top executives for their turn-around plan to fire hundreds of staffers, saying she and the ministry of communications are opposed to the SABC's retrenchment plan that includes shutting down provincial offices and reducing provincial SABC staffers.

The South African National Editors Forum (Sanef) that also weighed in this week and likewise slammed the SABC's "cruelty", saying SABC staffers are "once again,at the receiving end of leadership abuse and negligence" at the broadcaster.

Madoda Mxakwe, SABC CEO has warned staffers about the South African public broadcaster's "dire financial state" after the SABC started the process of job cuts and retrenchments to downsize the SABC's staff numbers.

A week after the SABC chairperson Bongumusa Makhathini played coy, didn't want to talk about SABC staff firings and wasn't willing to be upfront about the SABC that has been looking at drastically shedding another 800 jobs, Madoda Mxakwe finally told SABC staffers following a meeting on Thursday with trade unions, that the SABC's wage bill is unsustainable.

The SABC posted a loss of R622 million for the 2017/2018 financial year with the country's Auditor-General (AG), Kimi Makwetu, saying he can't determine whether the cash-strapped South African public broadcaster remains a going concern.

Longtime staffers and producers who have been with SABC News since the channel's start-up five years ago already got axed at the end of August although despite the SABC renewed its controversial multi-million rand channel carriage carriage with Naspers' MultiChoice to continue carrying the news channel on DStv for the next few years.

Around 3 000 of the SABC's staff headcount are permanent employees, while the rest are fixed-term and freelance workers.

A staggering amount of the SABC's expenditure goes to just paying staffers, although just 60% are directly involved in programming. The SABC is supposed to spend the bulk of its money on creating and broadcasting content.

The SABC says one of the SABC's biggest cost drivers is the salary bill and that although it is a R7.2 billion revenue generating company, it's saddled with a massive annual salary bill of R3.1 billion.