ANC calls on SABC to reconsider extensive retrenchments
The SABC wants to retrench 981 permanent employees and 1,200 freelancers in a bid to cut costs
The ANC has supported the call by communications minister Nomvula Mokonyane that the financially ailing SABC reconsider its plan to retrench staff. On Monday, the SABC announced that it would proceed with retrenchments in a bid to cut costs. It is looking at cutting 981 of its 3,376 permanent employees and 1,200 of its 2,400 freelancers. CEO Madoda Mxakwe said on Wednesday that the SABC’s wage bill was R3.1bn, and its total expenditure R3.5bn, noting, ‘‘This is not sustainable.’’ The ANC said it did not believe Mokonyane was undermining the SABC board’s independence and authority by making the call. ‘‘The government, like any other stakeholder or actor in South African society, has a right to express an opinion,’’ spokesperson Pule Mabe said. ‘‘The government does not lose that right because they appoint a board.’’ He said expression of an opinion is not an instruction, but a request for the view to be noted and factored in, and that an opinion is not an attack on its independence. ...
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