Makhathini further added that in 2009‚ one of the Treasury conditions for a government guarantee to the public broadcaster was that the SABC should reduce employee costs in order to be sustainable but in 2018‚ employee costs were still the biggest cost driver at the SABC and continued to be out of step as a percentage of revenue.
“It is sitting at about 42% of the total revenue‚ which is an anomaly‚” said Makhathini.
Makhathini restated that with regards to section 189 [of the Labour Relations Act] … “that is a very tightly drafted legislation requirement and processes which the SABC intends to follow to the letter”.
He confirmed that the SABC had engaged with organised labour and employees to communicate to them that the broadcaster contemplated embarking on the section 189 process. “This process must fully comply with the Labour Relations Act and therefore it would have been improper for the employees to first hear about the process in a public meeting with this committee‚” he said.
He said this was the reason the SABC management had started engaging with labour so that they could work together in a consultation process which would result in a buy-in and alignment on how to proceed in the cost-cutting drive.