COSATU supports its affiliate CWU in denouncing and rejecting the planned retrenchments at SABC

The Congress of South African Trade Unions fully supports its affiliated union Communication Workers Union (CWU) in its fight against planned retrenchments at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).

The federation denounces the intransigent attitude of the SABC Board that is hell-bent of sending people onto the unemployment scrapheap despite calls from the shareholder (government) for them to look for other solutions and not retrenchments.

The public broadcaster cannot continue to call for engagements with labour when they have long resolved that retrenchments are their only preferred solution.

We agree with the Communication Workers Union that we need an inclusive stakeholders meeting that will include government, labour and the regulator (ICASA) to engage on a turnaround strategy. The federation will also be requesting an urgent meeting with government to discuss the SABC matter. Government cannot just oppose retrenchments in name only, we also need to see some action to help the public broadscter navigate this difficult period. If the SABC Board and the senior executives are out of their depths, then they should step aside and allow people with ideas to take over.

 Indeed it is unacceptable that the same management that wants to chuck other workers out of their work also entered into lucrative contracts with some individuals at the same time. If the SABC Board cannot resolve the SABC problems without workers retrenchments, then they are the ones that need to be retrenched from their positions.

COSATU believes that stabilising the SABC is essential if we are to have an informed nation that is allowed to participate meaningfully in the public discourse. The country is experiencing massive retrenchments and enormous unemployment and for innocent workers to be punished for the sins of others is totally unacceptable.

The SABC is the only vehicle which can possibly speak for all South Africans in their own languages and reflect our lives, our history our culture and the political debates of the day. The public broadcaster must therefore be empowered and charged with the momentous task of informing and empowering citizens to defend our country and our constitution.

Statement issued by Sizwe Pamla, COSATU National Spokesperson, 12 October 2018