The leadership of the cash-strapped SABC has come under fire after it emerged that it hired a public relations company to “polish” the public broadcaster’s image in the face of
rejection of plans to retrench hundreds of workers.
Trade unions said the SABC leadership had told them in a meeting recently that the image and reputation of the company had taken a beating from coverage by Sunday World in particular.
Sunday World was the first publication to report that the SABC planned to retrench 600 workers and discontinue the contracts of 1 200 freelancers.
The plan, which came into motion when the organisation issued notices of the job cuts, has been roundly rejected by the ANC, the unions and parliament, among other stakeholders.
Bemawu president Hannes du Buisson said it was wrong for the SABC to splurge
money on a PR consultant when it has a fully fledged communications and marketing team hired to do the job of protecting and promoting the image of the organisation.
“They also confirmed that they have appointed a consultant to polish the image of the SABC and counter bad publicity in particular Sunday World. Our response was if there is
nothing negative to publish there will be no negative publicity,” he said.
“We expressed our concern that an agency has been appointed to polish the SABC’s image [when] there are internal people who have been appointed to do marketing for the SABC.”
Last week, Sunday World reported that the corporation blew close to R3-million on catering as at March this year. Communications Workers Union (CWU) general secretary Aubrey Tshabalala said they condemned the move to hire a PR agency.
He said the SABC management was proving to be a burden to the corporation and called for the removal of the organisation’s board.
“First, there is an urgent need to save costs. Second, the public broadcaster needs no PR exercise except proper governance. CWU reaffirmed its position to remove the board before it is too late,” he said.
Spokesperson Mmoni Seapolelo confirmed the appointment of a PR agency.
She said the SABC considered good image and reputation as important aspects
for the growth of the business.
“The SABC is recovering from a legacy of a collapse in governance and sound
financial management systems. This severely affected the corporation and its
financial sustainability,” she said.
“It was on this basis that the corporation appointed a reputation management agency, a practice that is not unique to the SABC.”
