Johannesburg - The loss-making South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is set to embark on a three-year downsizing process in a move to cut costs, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.
“We are not going to fire anybody but offer voluntary packages. We are going to allow people to resign or take early retirement,” spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago told reporters.
The public broadcaster employs 3 600 people and broadcasts in the country's 11 official languages.
Kganyago said the goal was to trim staff to “3 000 within three years”, adding that the wage bill was the highest source of costs.
The SABC is partly funded by the state and other revenue comes from television licence fees and advertising.
The embattled broadcaster has been hit by management resignations and aided by government bailouts to stay afloat.
“We have inherited an almost insolvent corporation on the brink of collapse,” board chairman Ben Ngubane told Parliament on Tuesday. - AFP