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The update can be found at the bottom of the post…

For the past few years, the SABC has lurched from one disaster to the next.

Most recently, the broadcaster’s attempts to broaden the scope of devices that require a TV licence has come under fire, as the coffers run dry and debt continues to pile up.

When you allow a megalomaniac like Hlaudi Motsoeneng to run wild, as he did in the SABC corridors for a number of years, things will always end in tears.

The latest drama coming out of the head offices in Auckland Park involve a heated showdown between SABC staff and management, which recently announced that it would be retrenching 400 staff, although there were 170 new positions to be filled.

Since Monday, staff have been protesting outside the offices, but yesterday those tensions boiled over inside the newsroom, when veteran journalist Chriselda Lewis implored group executive for news Phatiswa Magobeni to reconsider the retrenchments.

Notices of retrenchment had been handed out to numerous news staff, who then refused to go on air, leading to the emergency meeting.

Lewis has been widely praised for the passion shown whilst standing up for her colleagues:

Well done @Chriseldalewis for taking a stand against the retrenchments at the SABC. @SABCNews pic.twitter.com/d4LQd2K6c8

— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) November 17, 2020

The heated exchanges from inside the newsroom were broadcast live on air, with anchors reacting in real-time to developments as they played out.

From 1:35 below, watch Thabiso Sithole taking it all in:

MUST WATCH.
– @SABCNews reporting on its internal upheaval.
– Staffers demoralised.
– Total SABC broadcast blackout looming.
– News boss Sis Phathiswa Magopeni told… NO!
– Emotional SABC news anchor shocked on-air; struggles to speak after stunned silence. pic.twitter.com/cqHJH11JsL

— TVwithThinus (@TVwithThinus) November 17, 2020

Later, as negotiations went on, Magopeni was again shown live on air, announcing that the retrenchment notices served earlier in the day would be retracted, and she would negotiate with senior management on their behalf:

#sabcnews #SABC ziyawa pic.twitter.com/qzkoVtOo2J

— HLOKWA LA TSELA.. (@Rox_Ronald1) November 17, 2020

On the same day the above drama played out, there was also the small matter of the SABC’s financials, with the broadcaster announcing a net loss of R511 million for the year to March 2020.

Back to the licence fee debacle, with this from the Daily Maverick:

The corporation said that in the 2020 year, TV licence revenue had declined by 18% year on year to R791-million “due to the delayed use of Debt Collection Agencies in this period”.

“This resulted in only 24% of the total licence fees billed being realised as revenue, compared with 31% for the year ended 31 March 2019.”

Receive email about TV licence, delete email about TV licence.

That’s generally how it goes.

Also, as those losses mount, fear not, because the SABC executives are still being richly rewarded, reports MyBroadband:

SABC Group CEO Madoda Mxakwe received a salary package of R5.5 million over the last year, while CFO Yolande van Biljon received R3.2 million.

The broadcaster’s senior management also enjoyed large annual salaries, ranging between R2 million and R3 million.

In total, the SABC paid its directors, executives, and senior managers R41.732 million in the last financial year.

Meanwhile, journalists are forced to stage on-air interventions so that they can keep their jobs.

Somewhere, Hlaudi is having one of those wild-eyed chuckles to himself.

UPDATE: The retrenchment reprieve was rather shortlived, reports EWN:

[The SABC] says it will go ahead with retrenchments as planned, despite the apparent go-slow at the public broadcaster on Tuesday…

“In light of the unfortunate incident which took place at our news division last night, please note that the S189 process is continuing as planned. SABC management and its Board apologise for any confusion that was created yesterday afternoon,” the public broadcaster’s head of human resources, Mojaki Mosia, said in a three-line email sent to staff on Wednesday morning.

Almost like Magopeni announced her decision just to quell the unrest, without any way to actually guarantee that retrenchments wouldn’t go ahead.

[source:sdailymaverick&mybb]