Johannesburg – Wednesday, 11 December 2024 – The SABC has noted the divisive and misleading statements made by Reverend Mzukisi Faleni yesterday at the memorial service of Umhlobo Wenene FM on-air personality who recently passed away, Ms Nomonde Vakalisa.

It is deeply regrettable that at a sensitive time such as this in which the family and her SABC colleagues are mourning, Reverend Faleni chose to use the memorial service to deliberately mislead the bereaved family, those in attendance and the South African public. This was done through spreading misinformation about the nature of “employment” and treatment of the departed on-air personality. Reverend Faleni is well aware that Independent Contractors/Freelancers are not fixed term or permanent employees, and therefore are engaged differently by the organization.

The Freelance contract or the Independent Contract concluded by the SABC, and its Independent Contractors is not governed by the prescripts of employment and labour laws of South Africa. All the terms and conditions that inform the nature of this type of contract are freely and voluntarily agreed upon by the parties involved. It is therefore disingenuous for anyone to mislead the public in the manner in which Reverend Faleni has done, by creating an impression that freelancers only get to learn about the terms and conditions of engagement when they are sick or no more.

Freelance contracts allow individuals the flexibility to do other additional remunerative work.  It is disappointing that the individual who is raising this matter in such an unfortunate and misleading manner, has himself enjoyed the benefits of concluding and signing a similar freelance contract with the SABC on previous occasions, which allowed him to carry on with his full-time engagements at another public institution, and enjoyed the flexibility that a freelance contract offers.

Independent Contractors/Freelancers are expressly excluded from the scope and the benefits of the statutory protection provisions such as Labour Relations Act (“LRA”) and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (“BCEA”), since they are not defined as employees. Accordingly, Independent Contractors/Freelancers do not have the same rights and entitlements to the same employment benefits and protections that are accorded to employees, and this is common knowledge that is known or reasonably expected to be known by any such Independent Contractors/Freelancers upon entering and/or signing a service contract.

The SABC would like to place it on record and confirm that the on-air personality in question has never expressed any displeasure with the SABC pertaining to her contract, and the SABC can further confirm that the corporation has honoured its contractual obligations towards her accordingly.

Ends

Issued By:                                             Group Communications

Media Enquiries:                                 Mmoni Seapolelo (Head of Communications)

Seapolelomv@sabc.co.za T. 011 714 3057| C. 073 688 1590