Call for Government Intervention
To the honourable President Cyril Ramaphosa, Honourable Minister Ndabeni and the Parliamentary Communication Committee.
Whereas the SABC has made an undertaking to enact Section 189 of the Labour Relations Act and retrench about 400 hundreds of us, the undersigned petitioners hereby ask the President, the Minister and the Parliamentary Communication Committee as follows:
1-To grant a moratorium on the proposed retrenchment of 400 hundred staff members.
2-For the government to immediately support the public broadcaster financially, preferably staff salaries. If the government is unable to take over staff salaries, we propose that it takes over content funding, through institutions such as DTI, Nfvf, National Heritage Council, etc.
3-We call on the opening of the spectrum, which will allow us to have more channels, and create job opportunities. We can also train people for the manufacturing of our own setup box.
4-We call the government to institute a Commission of enquiry on SABC activities and probe into the activities of group executives from 1994 to date to determine how their decisions (that resulted to loss of Sports rights, etc) adversely impacted the broadcaster and what they gained out of this.
5-We further call for investigation of closure of Studios and Post Production Facilities. It is alleged that the former executives members are shareholders and beneficiaries of studios that the SABC currently use.
6-Finally, we call for investigations of allegations of senior managers soliciting sexual favours for posts and promotions. This includes allegations of corrupt staff members who are taking bribes for radio and TV content.
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