OUR RIGHTS WERE FOUGHT FOR. OUR DIGNITY MUST BE DEFENDED. The history of the South African labour movement teaches us that workers have never secured meaningful improvements simply by hoping that those in positions of authority would voluntarily change their approach. From the Durban strikes of 1973 to the historic mineworkers’ strike of 1987, workers…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CENTURION, 16 October 2026 — The Broadcasting, Electronic, Media & Allied Workers Union (BEMAWU) has secured a landmark victory at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), successfully holding the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) accountable for an unfair labour practice relating to promotion. In an arbitration award handed down today,…
In South Africa, you are legally allowed to record a conversation you are a part of, even without the other person’s knowledge. Under the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act (RICA), South Africa operates on a “single-party consent”model. As long as you are actively participating in the conversation, your own consent is sufficient…
This is the SABC’s attempt to unilateral change a Collective Agreement and the SABC’s agreed Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
Whilst contemplating a restructuring and added cost to its personnel expenses by adding a costly new management structure at the sales division, the SABC is facing a switch-off soon. https://mybroadband.co.za/news/broadcasting/614174-stern-warning-to-the-sabc.html
We need to immediately address the SABC’s recent “Announcement of Indefinite Moratorium on Leave Encashment,” which is set to take effect on 30 October 2025. The SABC has announced its decision to discontinue the encashment of accumulative leave, citing its current financial position. It acknowledges that as recently as December 2023, during wage negotiations, the…
The JIMC minutes and correspondence reveal: This is rich material for a case study on transitional governance, stakeholder engagement, and the role of unions in shaping post-apartheid media structures. Systems, Structures & Strategic Gaps The financial systems annexure and committee agendas show: This could inform a contradiction matrix or integration timeline that maps technical dependencies…
As South Africa transitioned into democracy, the broadcasting sector faced a monumental challenge: integrating the fragmented signal distribution networks of the former TBVC states into a unified, equitable national system. The Signal Distribution Integration Sub-Committee, chaired by Sentech under the Joint Integration Management Committee (JIMC), was tasked with designing this transformation. A newly surfaced draft…
The 1995 Integration of SATBVC Broadcasting into South Africa’s NPBS In the aftermath of apartheid, South Africa faced the monumental task of unifying its fractured broadcasting landscape. The SATBVC broadcasters—representing the former homelands of South Africa (South Africa, Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda, and Ciskei)—had operated in silos, each with its own staffing policies, infrastructure, and programming…
In mid-1995, South Africa’s public broadcasting landscape was rocked by speculation that television licence fees might be scrapped. The controversy, sparked by comments from then Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Broadcasting, Dr. Pallo Jordan, triggered widespread concern across the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)—especially among staff in the licensing department whose jobs were perceived to…
