This time, broadcaster will oust sports bulletin readers and content creators to save costs

More than 30 SABC radio sports bulletin readers are facing a bleak future as the public broadcaster has announced its intention to collapse sports segments and combine them with news bulletins at all of its public radio stations.

The move is part of cost-cutting measures being implemented by the cash-strapped SABC as part of its turnaround plan.

On Tuesday, the SABC sports department sent an email to both its radio station managers and sports readers, informing them of the impending changes.

In the email, which City Press has seen, Gilbert Nyadzhiwa, programme manager for SABC Sport Radio, states: “As from April 1, SABC Sport will no longer provide sport bulletins on all radio stations. As a result, SABC Sport will not renew any contract with the bulletin readers – ie [sic] sport will not continue contracting bulletin readers at SABC Sport as this function will be collapsed together with the news bulletin readers.”

However, Nyadzhiwa gave presenters a glimmer of hope by saying that they might be retained by their stations.

“Stations that would like to retain bulletin presenters on their platforms will have to motivate for such approval through Nada Wotshela, the group executive for SABC Radio, who will agree to carry the cost,” the email reads.

However, the move will not affect sports show presenters and producers.

Metro FM sports bulletin reader Lebo Motsoeli  how shocked she was to hear that sports bulletin readers’ contracts would not be renewed.

But, she added, “it is the nature of the business”.

“Anything can happen in the next two weeks,” said a philosophical Motsoeli.

“I am just trusting the Lord that they renew my contract.”

An SABC insider told City Press this week that the broadcaster’s sports and news bulletins had been standalone units, meaning that the two departments had separate budgets.

“There has always been confusion between a radio station’s news department and its sports department about who should pay sports bulletin readers. Initially, it was decided that payment should come from the radio station’s news budget. For example, Owen Hannie, who has been a sports reader with Metro FM for many years, is paid from the sports department’s budget – yet it is only Metro FM listeners who benefit from his content,” the insider said.

The insider added that the SABC was also planning to shut down Sport Info Hub, which provides up-to-date bulletins and sport news content.“All the staff working for this department, including researchers and content producers, are also going to lose their jobs,” he said.

When City Press approached the SABC for comment, acting spokesperson Mmoni Seapolelo said the broadcaster was constantly looking at effective ways of optimising its operations.

“It must be noted that any changes made on its programming will not affect the delivery and quality of sports bulletins. The SABC is not in a position to discuss internal payment systems with external parties,” she said.

Contingency budgets, unapproved proposals and contractual variations went ahead willy-nilly, allowing tenders to morph from R200m to billions

Eskom has launched a series of investigations to determine how project management fees for the construction of two of its power stations, Kusile and Medupi, ballooned from R200 million to more than R20 billion.

In a presentation by Eskom’s chief procurement officer, Solly Tshitangano, to MPs last week, he revealed that during the mid-2000s, Eskom had contracted US engineering firm Black & Veatch and engineering consultants Parsons Brinckerhoff, Africa (PB Africa) at a cost of R200 million – but ended up paying the two firms more than R20 billion because of variations in the scope of work at both Kusile and Medupi.

Also attending the presentation was Eskom’s top brass, including board chair Malegapuru Makgoba, chief executive André de Ruyter and chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer.

They appeared before the standing committee on public accounts and the portfolio committee on public enterprises to brief them on the latest developments at the power utility.

According to the presentation, in 2005 Eskom contracted Black & Veatch to manage the construction of Kusile, situated in Mpumalanga, for R100 million.

But by the end of December 2017 – and after changing the contract and amending the scope of the job six times – the power utility had paid the US firm a total of R14.9 billion.

Eskom’s executives also told MPs attending the presentation that in April 2006, the parastatal had contracted PB Africa to supervise the construction of Medupi for R100 million.

By the end of July last year – and after changing the contract and reviewing the scope of work nine times – Eskom had paid PB Africa about R5.8 billion.

In 2015, PB Africa was acquired by British firm WSP.

An Eskom executive, who knows the construction sector and asked to remain anonymous, told City Press that at the time, the power utility “was clueless about what was needed to build the power stations”.

The source added: “In 2007, Eskom asked Black & Veatch to make a proposal detailing a ‘shopping list’ of all the services the firm could offer us. That is why, in September 2007, Black & Veatch’s contract increased from R100 million to R2.7 billion.

“The increase was effected after Black & Veatch developed and submitted its own scope of work to Eskom. This is unheard of in construction,” he said, adding that the standard practice is for the client to develop the scope and hand it over to the service provider.

Chris Hani’s killer, Janusz Walus, has been denied parole, the Ministry of Justice said in a statement on Monday.

“Placing offender Walus on parole would negate the severity that the court sought when sentencing him. With this premise, and balancing both negative and positive factors, the placement on parole of offender Walus is not approved at this stage,” said Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola.

In his decision-making, Lamola noted Hani’s political assassination was “executed with the intention to create chaos and mayhem in the country”.

“It must also be noted that Walus was convicted of murder with no extenuating circumstances having been found to be present.”I have also taken note of the legal regime applicable based on the date on which Walus committed the crime. This implies that should it be my decision to approve his placement on parole, he would be on parole for a maximum period of three years, less any possible remissions for which he might qualify,” Lamola explained his reasoning.

In December, the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria instructed Lamola to reconsider the matter within 60 days, News24 reported.

Walus is serving a life sentence at Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre in Pretoria. He assassinated Hani, the general secretary of the South African Communist Party, in 1993.

This is a developing story. More information to follow.

A letter being distributed on WhatsApp attributed to Adrian Gore, CEO of Discovery, in which he seemingly shares his thoughts on the novel coronavirus, was not written by him nor intended for his employees.

In fact, the “letter” is an article written by Dr Christoforos Anagnostopoulos, an honorary senior lecturer at Imperial College London. It was first published on his Facebook page.

When  contacted a former public relations officer at Discovery, the letter was debunked as being falsely attributed to Gore.

The article starts: “The next two months will be critical. We will remember them for the rest of our lives.”

’20 times worse that the flu’

It further states that the novel coronavirus is “at least 20 times worse than the flu”.

It claims the belief that “the flu kills more people every year” will soon be proven wrong. The related belief that “maybe most of us have caught it already and didn’t realise” it, is also unlikely to be proven right, it continues.

Hoaxes and false information about the novel coronavirus, which causes Covid-19, have been spreading almost as rapidly as the virus itself.

And to make things worse, people are readily sharing false information without first fact-checking.

News24 has been inundated with calls and messages from well-meaning members of the public who have “information” about government cover-ups and outbreaks of the coronavirus at local hospitals. None turned out to be true.

In addition, Dettol, bleach and garlic, among other things, were touted as “cures” for the novel coronavirus, named SARS-CoV-2, since the outbreak began in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019

A three-month-old baby who was allegedly kidnapped at a clinic in Mamelodi West in Pretoria has been found.

Three-month-old Tshegofatso Nyambi was allegedly kidnapped by an unknown woman on Friday.

According to police spokesperson Captain Mavela Masondo, Tshegofatso was dumped next to the University of Pretoria’s Mamelodi campus and then picked up by a couple.The couple took the baby to a police station, where he was positively identified by his parents.

“The child was taken to a medical practitioner for examination. After he was found to be healthy and unharmed, he was reunited with his biological parents,” Masondo said.

Masondo said a case of kidnapping remained open and police were still searching for the perpetrators.

Shocking phone call

“It is reported that the mother was at a Mamelodi clinic for the child’s immunisation, when the suspect sitting next to her offered to hold the baby. The woman then disappeared with the baby and a case of kidnapping was opened.”

Tshegofatso’s mother, Dipuo, told eNCA a stranger pretended to want to play with him.She said she later received a shocking phone call.

“There’s a guy who called. He threatened that I must send him R1 000. Then he will return the child,” she told eNCA.

She was reportedly told to deposit the money at Spar or Shoprite.Masondo thanked everybody who helped to search for the child, including the media.

“We are still appealing to anyone who might have information that can help with the investigation or to apprehend the suspect/s to please call Warrant Officer Mhlanga on 071 675 6774, or the nearest police station. Information can also be given by calling Crime Stop on 08600 10111 or via the My SAPS app.”