SABC employees left in lurch as salaries not paid

Staff at the beleaguered SABC woke up to a shocking realisation on Tuesday morning: their salaries had not been paid.

TimesLIVE has seen a notification from the Broadcasting, Electronic, Media & Allied Workers Union (Bemawu) stating they were aware of the non-payment. A staff member, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed not receiving a salary.

Speaking on Morning Live, SABC spokeswoman Neo Momodu said that payments were loaded on Monday, but there was a “technical error by the bank”. The salaries would be paid on Tuesday, she said.

The SAfm Twitter account also published a short update just before 7.30am offering hope to worried employees.

“SABC management has sought to assure its staff members that their salaries will be paid today. SABC management says there was a technical glitch on the side of the bank which resulted in salaries not been paid on time,” the tweet read.

In an official statement, the SABC said that it’s non-payment of staff was due to technical glitch.

“The SABC would like to put on record that the technical error experienced this morning, in the payment of staff salaries, was due to problems experienced by the financial institution,” spokesperson Neo Momodu said.

The matter would be resolved “in a matter of hours”, and that staff would be paid by the end of the day.

A Bemawu official subsequently told TimesLIVE that he had been informed by a senior SABC official that the matter was resolved. The manager reiterated to the union official that it had been a technical glitch.