SABC strike looms ahead of ANC conference
Trade unions will embark on a wage strike at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) from Thursday.
The strike comes two days before the start of the African National Congress' (ANC) elective conference.
The conference is due to be broadcast on the SABC.
Members of the Broadcasting, Electronic, Media & Allied Workers Union (Bemawu) and Communication Workers Union (CWU), as well as an informal workers union, will down tools after they failed to reach a wage agreement with the public broadcaster.
The unions are asking for a 10% increase backdated to 1 April 2015.
Bemawu's Hannes du Buisson says members have rejected the SABC's offer.
"We had many negotiations with the SABC since last week. We have rejected the SABC's 4.5% offer. We are trying to engage on an increase that is inflation based. They have however also rejected this."
SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago says contingency plans have been put in place to ensure that South Africans are able to watch the conference.
"We don't have control over them. We have put contingency plans in place to make sure we deliver the conference to the people of South Africa. We have called upon those going on the strike not the intimidate others."
Du Buisson says they had hoped to avoid industrial action, but the public broadcaster has left them with no choice.
"Around 2500 employees could participate in the strike. We believe that there will be countrywide impact on all programming and broadcasting at the SABC. We are still in negotiations and hope that it can be resolved."