Unlike SABC, the CCMA is a govt ‘special case’ with merit

They are “special cases”, every one of them. Every week they shuffle into the media spotlight, each one in turn wheedling for more.

Every ministry, every state agency, every overstaffed and underperforming creation of a government whose most obvious driving force has been the creation of sinecures for cadres. They’re all there, plucking at the taxpayer sleeve, demanding more dosh, failing which the sky will fall.

This week, it was the turns of the public broadcaster (SABC) and the Council for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). Both are in dire straits.

The SABC has been limping from bailout to bailout for half a dozen years. In 2018-19, it had a deficit of R444 million and got a R3.2 billion bailout. This past financial year, it lost R511 million and says it is on track to record a R1.2 billion loss next year.

Almost 50% of the SABC’s revenue is spent on its 3 000 employees, who are paid R3 billion a year. That’s a million bucks a year per person, around four times what the average private sector worker earns annually. It’s also more than two-and-a-half times the annual pay of the average government employee.

The weird thing about the SABC’s woes is that its bosses accept that headcount has to be cut but are repeatedly thwarted by the government. SABC board chair Bongumusa Makhathini has warned repeatedly that job cuts are unavoidable if the public broadcaster is to avert a collapse similar to SAA or Denel.

But the most recent retrenchment plan was abandoned this week following union threats of a shutdown and the promise by Communications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams that nobody would lose their job.

ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule – unequalled in his ability to hold onto a job – says that ANC MPs must fall in line to ensure no jobs are lost. So, too, the board, with its “ANC deployees”.

Less clear-cut is the situation at the CCMA. Despite its unpopularity with employers, who spend inordinate amounts of time dealing with often frivolous and vexatious actions instituted by disgruntled employees, it’s markedly more efficient and effective than most state entities.

It’s a frugal operation, too, with a budget of barely a billion and fewer than 1 000 employees. Democratic Alliance labour spokesman Michael Bagraim says it’s the best-performing government entity over the past decade. “But… Treasury has been steadily cutting its budget.”

On top of stingy allocations, this year the CCMA’s budget has been cut by R99 million, with cuts of a further R400 million planned for the next two years. To add insult to injury, the money cut this year is being diverted to bail out SAA.

It is perverse that at the moment that demand for its services is soaring because of the economic downturn, the CCMA is suspending 40% of its commissioners. But the CCMA seemingly has few defenders in the Cabinet.

Maybe it’s an embarrassment. As Bagraim puts it: “Nothing falling under the department of labour works — the Unemployment Insurance Fund doesn’t work, the Compensation Fund doesn’t work. The only thing that works they are now going to destroy. Where’s the logic?”

For once, there’s a government “special case” that does deserve support. And it’s not the SABC.

William Saunderson-Meyer.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.