The fallout over the SABC staff retrenchments has laid bare divisions within the public broadcaster's board members who publicly contradicted each other over the controversial process.
Some board members have now called for the retrenchment process to be immediately scrapped and for other alternatives to be considered.
Communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams called an emergency meeting with the board on Tuesday evening in which she asked members to consider other alternatives instead of job cuts.
Yesterday, board chairperson Bongomusa Makhathini and his deputy Mamodupi Mohlala contradicted each other on the mandate the board gave SABC management about the retrenchments, which will see 400 employees losing their jobs.
Makhathini said the board had last month "mandated" management to implement the current retrenchments to cut SABC's salary bill, which was costing around R3bn annually, amounting to 43% of the total expenses.
"From where we are, we don't have any new resolution. A resolution that was taken on the 30th of October to implement the retrenchment plan is still in place," Makhathini said.
Mohlala disputed this, saying management had gone ahead with retrenchments without the board giving permission.
"As far as I am concerned I don't think there was an approval (for retrenchments) that occurred in that meeting. There was a discussion of different options but there was no permission to proceed with the process and at that point they (executive) were in the middle of the (section 189) process for which we had not given approval," she said.
"The retrenchment process can be remedied. I think we have to stop the process and go back to consultations because these are people's lives and livelihood. Why should we look at destroying people's livelihood as a point of first resort?"
Mohlala said the retrenchments were premature and had been rushed before other alternatives, including considering freezing salary increases and bonuses, were considered.
"Staff morale needs to be high at the SABC, especially because we've just received a bailout and we need to do a turnaround. The only way we will be able to do a turnaround is when we have motivated staff with high morale," Mohlala said.
Makhathini said depending on the availability of members, the board would meet to discuss Ndabeni-Abraham's suggestion that other alternatives be considered. However, he emphasised that their position on retrenchments as a board remained unchanged.
"Retrenchments were not the first thing we jumped into. Just not so long ago we signed a deal with Telkom which will give us a revenue stream we never had and renegotiated contracts to ensure that they are commercially beneficial to the SABC," Makhathini said.
He said the public broadcaster needed to urgently cut its wage bill as they were already projecting losses of R1.2bn at the end of the current financial year.
"When we were given the R3.2bn bailout, that money was not for salaries, it was to pay debt, buy new content and help with the maintenance of broadcasting infrastructure, with salaries excluded," Makhathini said.
Ndabeni-Abrahams acknowledged that there were "alternative voices" in the board on the retrenchments and called on the board to consider all possible options, with an aim to preserve jobs.
The SABC board was scheduled to appear before parliament's portfolio committee last night to give an update on what was unfolding.
Another board member, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the board was divided on the issue of retrenchments, which had created two factions.
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