Johannesburg – The SABC board will this week meet amid the controversy caused by the corporation’s employment contract clause that sought to compel staff members to consent to their work equipment being monitored and intercepted.
As reported in this newspaper last week, the public broadcaster made workers give consent for their communication to be intercepted, monitored, read, saved or acted upon when stored on the equipment that belongs to the SABC.
The corporation has since removed the clause, which in part reads as follows: “For the avoidance of doubt, communications shall include incoming and outgoing e-mail messages, attachments to incoming and outgoing e-mails, hyperlinks in incoming and outgoing e-mail messages, cellphone short message services, telephone conversations, cellphone conversation and access to internet sites and communication- related information stored on any equipment such as computers, laptops, palmtops and cellphones of the SABC.”
In a notice to staff this week, the SABC said the clause would not be applicable for all contracts, existing and new.
“The SABC has noted concerns raised by various stakeholders regarding a 2008 clause in the SABC employment contracts dealing with the corporation’s right to intercept, monitor and read any communications of employees,” SABC group HR head Mojaki Mosia said.
“While this is a standard clause that has been included in all employment contracts since 2008, it is not intended to violate the rights of journalists or their sources of information,” said Mosia.
“Journalists and their sources are adequately protected by the SABC’s editorial policies of 2020.”
But some members of the board are believed to have called for accountability by those who drafted the clause.
“We want to ask why did they put an illegal clause in the first place. The people in legal and HR departments are not competent,” a board member said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Broadcasting, Electronic, Media and Allied Workers Union demanded to know why the SABC wanted communication of workers intercepted.
“Our concern is that the board approved this clause, legal approved this clause and HR approved this clause. There was no consideration given to what such a clause would do to the integrity and ability of the SABC News and its journalists.
“It was clearly to spy on journalists,” said the union’s president Hannes du Boisson.
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