South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) employees are set to embark on a protest on Monday afternoon against plans by the corporation to cut at least four hundred jobs, which will result from the implementation of the new company structure.
Corporates and the government has suffered enormously since the country got hit by the novel Corona Virus, which forced governments all over the world to implement lockdown, which has seen many businesses closing down due to financial constraints.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa supports the protests which have been planned by workers.
“We concur with workers that section 192 of the South African constitution obliges the public broadcaster to provide universal access to the airwaves, and to create platforms which will allow for all South Africans to have equal access, whether rich or poor. “
NUMSA spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola added that, “We reject the position taken by the Finance minister Tito Mboweni, with the blessing of the governing ANC, to deprive SOE’s and in this case, the SABC of any more funding, as this grossly undermines the constitutional mandate of the SABC. This was a deliberate decision taken by Treasury to choke the broadcaster, so that management would have no choice, but to embark on a massive job shedding exercise.”
The union is encouraging the government to create more job or at least grow the one’s that remains, instead of cutting.
This planned protest comes after the speech by President Cyril Ramaphosa about economic reconstruction which is centred on infrastructure and mass employment programmes.
