Thinus Ferreira
Workers at eNCA, e.tv, and kykNET's eNuus are "vibrating with anger" after eMedia handed them retrenchment letters last week - including e.tv's main news bulletin anchor Melanie Rice - shortly after eMedia CEO Khalik Sherrif and a group of guests returned from an expensive 2026 World Cup soccer jaunt in America.
Canal+'s MultiChoice pays eMedia to make the eNCA TV news channel exclusive to DStv, but eMedia now wants to potentially get rid of more than half of the total workforce: 171 out of 309.
In addition to eNCA, journalists at e.tv, as well as eNuus, across the country are affected and they were also involved in this week's retrenchment announcements and meetings.
The Section 189 retrenchment process at eMedia comes just after Khalik Sherrif and board members, as a group of more than 20 people, went to the United States last month for the end of the 2026 FIFA Soccer World Cup with expensive tickets, flights, and accommodation to treat potential clients.
Workers are furious about what they see as a waste of money by the big bosses with big salaries, while they "at the bottom of the food pyramid" have to pay the price.
Although eMedia is paid to deliver a linear TV channel, the plan is allegedly to dismantle the "traditional newsroom structure" and replace it with a "digital-first" approach. DStv however, has no place for anything more than just a linear pay-TV channel.
It is also buzzing within eMedia that the company is allegedly "largely done" with current affairs content, and plans to either cut interview and current affairs series on e.tv and eNCA to the bone, or cancel them entirely because they are not profitable.
Norman Munzhelele, eNCA managing director, sent an 8-page retrenchment letter with 22 points in it, to affected eMedia workers on Wednesday and Thursday.
In it, Norman Munzhelele says the eMedia layoffs come due to "the decline in traditional TV viewing patterns, especially within the 24-hour news environment".
Meanwhile, the renewal of fixed-term and freelance contracts has also been halted.
The retrenchment process comes just four months before South Africa's local elections and affects the news, technical, and broadcast departments.
Workers wonder how bosses at eNCA, e.tv, and eNuus think they will be able to cover the big election in South Africa and the run-up to it, with suddenly 55% fewer people.
Workers are also furious about the money eMedia spent to build the expensive VRtuosus virtual studio that opened in Johannesburg in March, which they say is underutilised.
Workers are also angry that they got retrenchment letters while Khalik Sherrif was the highest eMedia earner and paid a salary of R19 million last year, which includes a bonus of R10.3 million.
John Copelyn, HCI Holdings parent company chairperson and non-executive chairperson, was paid R21.7 million, including a R3.6 million bonus, while Antonio Lee, financial director, got paid R12.6 million, which included a R5.7 million bonus.
With fears that the quality of the eNuus bulletin on kykNET, where there are already too few workers, could deteriorate further due to the retrenchment process, kykNET was approached for comment, but spokesperson Herschelle Benjamin referred the media query to eNCA.
Canal+ also referred a media query to eMedia, saying "eNCA is a separate commercial entity operated independently by eMedia".
eMedia refused to answer media inquiries, with spokesperson Lynne Adams saying via email: "As a matter of principle, eMedia does not comment publicly, through the media, on its internal business operations, confidential employee matters, or internal processes."
Questions were also put to Khalik Sherrif who was asked about the expensive soccer group trip to America and what eMedia gained financially from it, whether the mass retrenchment decision was made before or after this visit, and also about workers complaining that they are now going to lose their jobs while eMedia executives with massive salaries remain untouched.
No answers to any of these questions were received from Khalik Sherrif.
"Khalik Sherrif and the others' big overseas visit, only to tell everyone weeks later that eNCA is going to be cut by half, is in extremely poor taste. Meanwhile, people who have to slave away daily to meet deadlines are seething with anger," a worker said.
Another worker shared that eNCA colleagues on Wednesday, and e.tv workers on Thursday, wept openly in Johannesburg and Cape Town. "It's very, very sad."
Another insider said: "Workers are divided. Some are glad they are not affected, did not receive letters, and are 'safe' this time. Other incredible journalists were told their time in front of and behind the camera is coming to an end."
"After years of declining viewership figures and a shrinking advertising market, it is clear that eMedia is struggling to survive, along with its share price which has dropped by 20% over the past two months. eMedia looks like it is on life support. For workers, it is an extremely depressing time."
Prof. Lizette Rabe, media expert and professor emeritus at Stellenbosch University, says: "We are experiencing a perfect media storm regarding all media, and this unfortunately in the midst of an election year that shows all the signs of becoming more difficult by the day."
"Of course, the starting point is that we live in a new era of information dissemination. This applies to all media: print-digital as well as broadcast media."
"Linear TV's time is numbered - except where, for example, live sport is concerned. The fact remains: It is a tragedy that newsrooms' budgets - journalism - are being dramatically cut."
"An informed society is an empowered society. And while political parties' own horn-blowers are going to do their thing on social media, we need professional media - meaning journalists who must adhere to a code of ethics - to present all sides of a matter. They do this professionally, independently, and without favour or fear—no matter if you get that information via your mobile phone, computer screen, TV, or radio."
