SABC news employees at Auckland Park embarked on a go-slow, with some allegedly refusing to go on air, in a dispute over looming retrenchments on Tuesday.

This followed an announcement by the public broadcaster that it would be retrenching 400 staff members, though there were about 170 vacancies that employees could apply for.

Staff at the broadcaster's headquarters in Auckland Park, Johannesburg, have been taking part in lunchtime pickets since Monday.

The SABC said in a statement earlier in November that the organisation required a “difficult but necessary restructuring process that will result in the reduction of staff”.

“The SABC is fully cognisant of the fact that this process will affect people's livelihoods and, moreover, have a knock-on effect on their families and communities. However, having exhausted all other options, we are now faced with the difficult task of having to restructure the organisation to ensure its sustainability.”

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