Four journalists from the SABC have been refused entry into work at the broadcaster’s Johannesburg offices, despite the Labour Court ruling that their dismissals were unlawful.<\/p>\n
The SABC on Wednesday morning said it would appeal the Labour Court order that it reinstate the four journalists, and would not allow them back into their offices.<\/p>\n
After waiting for two hours at the entrance of its television studios, acting head of news Simon Tebele told the four that the SABC was appealing the judgment.<\/p>\n
“It has been communicated to me that you cannot come back to work at this stage,” Tebele told the journalists.<\/p>\n
The dismissed journalists then asked Tebele how the broadcaster could dismiss the labour court judgment.<\/p>\n
Tebele responded by saying that SABC lawyers had written to the SABC 4’s lawyers “informing them that you could not report for duty”.<\/p>\n
Solidarity trade union\u2019s Dirk Hermann, who is representing the four, told News24 on Wednesday that the SABC was in contempt of court.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have done so despite the appeal papers not being processed yet, so technically the SABC is in contempt of court,” he said.\u200e<\/p>\n
The Labour Court ruled on Tuesday that four of the eight SABC journalists that were axed by the broadcaster had to be reinstated.<\/p>\n
It also ruled they were entitled to return to work and that the SABC was interdicted from proceeding with the their disciplinary hearings before they were dismissed.<\/p>\n
The four journalists are Foeta Krige, Suna Venter, Krivani Pillay and Jacques Steenkamp.<\/p>\n
They had criticised the broadcaster’s policy to not show footage of violent protests.\u200e<\/p>\n
Three other SABC journalists who were recently fired are also heading to Labour Court on Thursday to argue a similar case as the first four.<\/p>\n
Busisiwe Ntuli, Thandeka Gqubule and Lukhanyo Calata will also argue for their dismissals to be overturned by the Labour Court, Bemawu representative Hannes du Buisson told News24 on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The three had not been fired at the time of the SABC 4’s first application, hence the separate application.<\/p>\n
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