by Thinus Ferreira

The South African public broadcaster that is not out of the woods financially despite another government bailout is looking to hire close to 500 workers this year, with the new hiring spree coming after the SABC let go of 800 workers in 2021.

The extremely bloated SABC that was forced to retrench workers, got rid of 877 permanent workers during its previous financial year that cost R177 million in a once-off payment in severance packages.

The SABC that got another R3.2 billion bailout from the South African government three years ago has not managed to significantly improve its financial position, with ominous clouds over its financial stability and future once again gathering.

Last week the South African parliament’s standing committee on public accounts were told that the SABC is not generating enough revenue and that the broadcaster is still struggling to cover its costs despite the R3.2 billion – paid in tranches of R2.1 billion and R1.1 billion in its 2019/2020 financial year – that it received to keep the studio lights and broadcast signals on.

Now the SABC is once again staffing up and advertised for 484 freelance jobs this month, primarily for its SABC News division, ranging from SABC News journalists, editors and producers for TV and radio, to camera operators and video editors, vision controllers, line record operators and bulletin writers, to make-up artists.

After eMedia’s eNCA and e.tv did away with weather presenters, SABC News is expanding its personalised weather forecast offering to give viewers a more in-depth, customised and personalised weather report service across SABC News and its TV channels and is looking for 27 weather presenters.

Gugu Ntuli, the SABC’s group executive of corporate affairs and marketing, told TVwithThinus in response to a media query, “The SABC can confirm that the corporation is on a drive to attract and create a pool of suitably qualifying talent on a freelance basis”.

“It must be noted that SABC News often complements its permanent employees with independent contractors for the success of the operating model.”

“The advertised independent contractor roles are intended to attract diverse skills of individuals who are willing to be engaged for various assignments as and when they become available which is often within a short notice. The SABC has duly budgeted for this purpose.”