The SABC disclosed that 400 people were being served with Section 189 notices, with about 170 posts to be filled.
FILE: The SABC headquarters in Auckland Park. Picture: SABC.
JOHANNESBURG – The SABC’s News Channel saw a break in broadcasting on Tuesday afternoon with presenters refusing to go on air as the corporation faces retrenchments.
They called for management to step down.
The SABC disclosed that 400 people were being served with Section 189 notices, with about 170 posts to be filled.
Journalist Chriselda Lewis was among angry staff in the newsroom. She spoke to the group executive for news and current affairs Phathiswa Magopeni, with the staff meeting being broadcast on SABC TV.
“We have great admiration in the journalist industry in this country, do let these people do this to you. We can’t sleep [and] it’s heading towards Christmas… this is not okay,”
Magopeni committed that she would not continue to issue the Section 189 letters.
“As a person who accounts to you and as a person who expects you to do your job as per delivering on the public mandate, I will go and negotiate it afterward, but at this point for the work of the public service to continue, I will talk to HR [and] whoever is senior, but from a responsibility to the newsroom, I cannot continue with these letters,” she said.
WATCH: SABC News employees convene meeting with management
