SABC delays case, then questions court's jurisdiction

The case of four axed SABC journalists was postponed in the Labour Court in Johannesburg yesterday to 12.30 today (Friday) to allow the broadcaster time to file its papers – and it managed to meet the court set deadline by filing its papers last night, presenting a largely technical argument on the jurisdiction of the court (see report below), notes Legalbrief. ‘The respondents (SABC) must file any answering affidavits in draft form by 19:00 this (Thursday) evening. The applicants must file any replying affidavits in draft form by 10:00 tomorrow,’ Judge Robert Lagrange said, according to a News24 report. The four journalists – Foeta Krige, Suna Venter, Krivani Pillay and Jacques Steenkamp – want the court to set aside their dismissals and revoke their disciplinary proceedings. Lagrange told Bantubonke Tokota, for the SABC, it was difficult to understand why the broadcaster's management had been unavailable to give him instructions on how to proceed. Solidarity chief executive Dirk Hermann said afterwards that the need for a postponement showed that the SABC did not care for processes, and that the SABC's counsel could not even get hold of management. ‘The moral thing for the SABC would be to say 'we were wrong'. The fact of the matter is we are going to win this case because we are on the right side of the argument. There is no doubt that their conduct was wrong and unlawful,’ Hermann said. Seven SABC reporters were fired this week. An eighth person, freelance journalist Vuyo Mvoko, had his contract terminated.