SABC employees gather as they prepare to drive to Union buildings

Dozens of SABC employees are gathered outside the broadcaster’s headquarters in Auckland Park.

They are preparing to drive to the Union buildings to hand over a memorandum to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

SABC employees are protesting against the retrenchment of around 300 permanent staff at the public broadcaster.

The SABC has already issued hundreds of redundancy and surplus letters to affected staff.

Meanwhile, the Broadcasting, Electronic, Media and Allied Workers Union (Bemawu) says it is concerned by the SABC’s approach to the strike.

On Wednesday morning, the public broadcaster issued a warning that only employees affiliated to the Communication Workers Union (CWU) could participate because it had only received a notice from that union.

Bemawu’s Hannes du Buisson says this amounts to intimidation as legally, all staff should be allowed to strike.

“There is a Constitutional Court judgment that was delivered in 2012. The court has said that it is not necessary for unionized employees and non-unionized… to take notice on an employer when there has been a notice shared by one of the unions that is organized in that workplace. That is exactly what happened,” explains Du Buisson.

Bemawu’s Hannes du Buisson speaks about strike action:

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CWU expects a total blackout at SABC on Friday

Meanwhile, CWU says they expect a total blackout at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) on Friday from 11am to 2pm.

The CWU’s Aubrey Tshabalala says the demands contained in a memorandum include amongst others calls for an urgent meeting with the President, the dissolution of the SABC Board and for the public broadcaster to be placed under administration.