SABC ‘has no choice but to cut jobs’
Treasury has not acceded to the board’s request for yet another government guarantee, this time for a cash injection of at least R3bn
The SABC says it remains in a dire financial state and will probably be unable to pay salaries and service providers in coming months. The public broadcaster said on Tuesday it had no choice but to cut jobs to remain viable. SABC executives told MPs the broadcaster needed a cash injection of at least R3bn to stay afloat. However, the Treasury has not acceded to the SABC’s request for yet another government guarantee. The request was submitted more than a year ago, said board chair Bongumusa Makhathini.
The SABC says it remains in a dire financial state and will probably be unable to pay salaries and service providers in coming months.
The public broadcaster said on Tuesday it had no choice but to cut jobs to remain viable.
SABC executives told MPs the broadcaster needed a cash injection of at least R3bn to stay afloat. However, the Treasury has not acceded to the SABC’s request for yet another government guarantee.
The request was submitted more than a year ago, said board chair Bongumusa Makhathini, who warned that the broadcaster could collapse and fail to pay salaries and service providers by March 2019 should the financial crisis not be addressed urgently.
SABC executives had a tough time in parliament on Tuesday trying to explain the need for job cuts at the troubled broadcaster.
The SABC executives were briefing parliament’s communications portfolio on the proposed retrenchments.
MPs across the political spectrum indicated they were opposed to the planned retrenchments at the SABC, which are likely to affect almost 1,000 permanent employees and 1,200 freelancers. The bickering over the retrenchment exercise is set to test the resolve and independence of SABC executives. The SABC board has been hampered by political interference leading to the collapse of previous boards, which is said to have contributed to the financial mess.
The SABC, which recorded a net loss of R622m in the financial year ended March, is in the midst of a crippling financial crisis. It spends more than R3bn a year on the salaries of slightly more than 3,000 permanent employees. It has R1.3bn in debt and generated R7.2bn in revenue in the financial year that ended in March.
In 2017, the SABC reported a net loss of more than R1bn. It expects a net R805m loss in the 2018-2019 financial year, should drastic cost cut measures not be implemented.
The SABC group executive for human resources, Jonathan Thekiso, said that job cuts were unavoidable. “The SABC has already embarked upon several cost-cutting measures, but there is simply no manner in which a complete organisational-wide restructuring and reduction of positions can be avoided, and with it the issue of possible retrenchments are regrettably contemplated,” said Thekiso.
The SABC has uncovered irregular promotions and salary increases by the previous executives that resulted in the inflation of the salary bill.
The SABC was overstaffed and the wage bill was inflated when freelancers were hired to do jobs that could be done by a permanent employees, he said.
Thekiso said the broadcaster could save about R150m by letting go 1,200 freelancers out of the current 2,400. Retrenching almost 1, 000 permanent staff could save about R440m a year.