Frank Maponya

Frank Maponya

Three staffers working at the SABC in Polokwane, Limpopo, have not been paid their salaries because of a change in the paying system, according to the broadcaster.

But the staffers were allegedly only told at the eleventh hour that their salaries would not be processed because of technical problems.

The affected staffers are said to have been told to wait until the problem was sorted out.

Sowetan has it on good authority that three staffers, Alex Netshaphasha, Emmanuel Kwinda and Lindani Makwela, have not received their payments.

Netshaphasha and Kwinda are newsreaders for PhalaPhala FM while Makwela does so for Thobela FM. The stations broadcast in the Tshi-venda and Sepedi languages, respectively.

According to a source at the public broadcaster, presenters were also not paid on time in April.

But those affected were paid within two days after raising their concerns with the relevant authorities.

"The delays in making payments to people who rendered their services really causes a lot of inconvenience and this should not be allowed to continue," said one staffer who did not wish to be named.

She said morale was low among the affected staffers.

"How do you expect your employees to perform to the best of their ability when they are not sure if they will get paid on time or not?" asked another SABC employee.

The spokesman for the SABC Kaizer Kganyago yesterday acknowledged there was a problem with payments to some of their freelance presenters.

He said the problem stemmed from the fact that they were changing systems of payment to presenters.

"But we are doing everything in our power to ensure that the system is back on track," said Kganyago