During the last two days, the Labour Court judgment in the
matter of Solidarity and Others v The South African
Broadcasting Corporation
("SABC") (case no. J 1343/16,
26 July 2016) has been widely publicised and is well-known to South
Africans.
The judgment relates to a protest policy recently introduced by
the SABC, in terms of which it would no longer broadcast footage of
destruction of public property during protests. Some journalists,
including the individual applicants, raised concerns about the
implementation of this policy, which led to their suspension and
ultimately their dismissals. In summary, on 26 July, the Labour
Court ordered that the dismissal of the four journalists was
unlawful and that they were entitled to return to work at the SABC.
Aside from the great public interest in the matter, the judgment
also raises interesting employment law issues regarding:
