COSATU statement on the planned retrenchments at SABC

30 October 2018

The Congress of South African Trade Unions is calling on the ANC and its government to openly state their real position regarding the planned retrenchments at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). It is not acceptable that the ANC government has committed to a moratorium on retrenchments but the SABC Board is allowed to retrench workers for something that is not of their own doing.

President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a retrenchment moratorium at the Presidential Job Summit and it is therefore disingenuous that both the ANC and the President are silent on SABC retrenchments. This is playing the ANC and its government against the workers and the consequences will be dire. Workers need to know that the can trust President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government cannot just oppose retrenchments in name only.

The intransigent attitude of the SABC Board that is hell-bent of sending people onto the unemployment scrapheap is nothing but an act of provocation. Their strategy of undermining proper processes as provided under Section 189 of the LRA, while using the media to push for retrenchments is an act of negotiating in bad faith.

This is worsened by today’s revelation by Statistics South Africa that the rate of unemployment has gone up to 27,5% from 27.2% in the second quarter.

COSATU calls on unions to unite and work together to push back against the victimisation of workers by the SABC Board. If we do not unite on the picket line, we will join each other on the unemployment line.

Issued by Sizwe Pamla, National Spokesperson, COSATU, 30 October 2018