x close

SOUTH AFRICA'S TV WEBSITE

SOUTH AFRICA'S TV WEBSITE

ACTORS | ARTICLES | NEWS SHORTS

NEW ON TV TODAY | TEASERS

SABC Reduces Costs With Less Milk

Written by TVSA Team from the blog News on 22 Jun 2009
Favourite this post

An insider-mole has told TVSA that SABC employees are receiving e-mails telling them to be aware that everyone in the organisation needs to cut costs.

Word is the e-mails are asking them to be aware of drinking less milk in their coffee and state that they will be charged for phone-calls and internet usage if they go over a certain allocated amount, whether or not they depend on these to do their jobs.

The unions are guffawing about it - when the unions meet with management to discuss payment issues everyone then gets Nescafe Gold and biscuits apparently i.e. the message being sent is: "You need to cut costs if you're a worker, but not if you're involved with management."

Other cost-cutting measures that have been introduced include the SABC's withdrawal of sponsorship and involvement from various events including the 2009 Encounters Film Festival and more recently, the Stars of Mzansi 2009 awards. The awards have been postponed until next year.

Other shows are also being put on hold including, So You Think You Can Dance SA 2 and I Want To Sing Gospel 2. According to music producer and the show's lead figure Lindelani Mkhize I Want To Sing Gospel plans to audition at the end of the year for an early 2010 premiere.

Even SABC2's tried-and-tested money spinner Strictly Come Dancing hasn't escaped the axe of the crunch. The latest news on the upcoming sixth season is that it's been postponed. Whether this means it's happening this year or next; or not at all isn't clear.

The one show that is that is going ahead is SA's Got Talent: the audition process will be happening soon and the premiere date is set for 13 August.

67 Comments

Kakapana
22 Jun 2009 19:24

hectic hey..we got more or less the same e.mail a few weeks ago about the usage of sugar, milk, phones and internet.

Foxxy
22 Jun 2009 19:34

This is normal in many companies. I work for a big company which i wont name, with over 1000 employees at head office. We were also instructed to cut costs by not using the milk at work for cereal as half the people were doing. The coffee machine was also changed to one that uses powdered milk instead of fresh.

As for the internet and phone, they're not for personal use. Using them for such is employee fraud, same as stealing r1 from petty cash everyday. If SABC haven't been employing these measures all along then they're stupid and deserve to be in financial ruin...

Green.arrow
22 Jun 2009 19:42

...eish this does remind me of work too....i remember i used to steal tym to silent blog on tv sa......actual blogging was not even an option.....and everytime IT department called i thought they had caught me out....commercial mail accounts are monitored etc etc......and the tea/coffee/milk drama...i dont miss work, wish study break can last forever...maybe not....BUtT its depressing at work bcos of all this rules..especially the internet rules......

sjura
22 Jun 2009 19:55

Lol @ milk n sugar part...nxt they'l b askn pipl 2 brng flasks and theyl provide the cups.

mabhebheza
22 Jun 2009 20:38

haaibo umhlaba uyabhubha nathi @work we got a similar mail about going green not using paper cups but mugs & no more hot chocolate blah blah blah tjo kubi !!

dali
22 Jun 2009 20:39

They mst cut out de whole coffee thing! Evry1 mst bring their own coffee! This sabc employees r spoiled maan!

Brown Shuga
22 Jun 2009 21:03

<<<<haaibo umhlaba uyabhubha nathi @work we got a similar mail about going green not using paper cups but mugs & no more hot chocolate blah blah blah tjo kubi !!>>> Geeez...you use paper cups??? Hot chocolate???? Your company wastes...

mjj
22 Jun 2009 21:50

tjo............u guys get free coffee at work?

Floh
22 Jun 2009 21:51

Ya neh!.........I thought it was only us at work with R80 phone budget for the whole month working in IT department. Two calls its gone and you wait for the coming month, rubbish.

Kakapana
23 Jun 2009 00:40

hawu r80 pho floh! ayi they must never. thina it mustnt be more than r700 a month and we get r250 cellphone allowance..mjj u dnt get free coffee at your work place?

Floh
23 Jun 2009 01:29

Yes R80.00 Kakapana and it's imposible to work sometimes.

Can i join your company Kaka ?

LM
23 Jun 2009 03:09

Mina at work imanagement iyasha to cancel the whole tea and coffee thing.phela iunion izoba phezkwabo within a minute. It was discussed together with scraping of overtime meal vouchers but never really implemented. Abasebenzi on the floor receive a 250g of five roses, 80 teabags of rooibos,a 250g of ricoffi n1kg of sugar per person per month.they order several litres of milk per day. Im talking about +650 mense. Office staff at diff sections share coffee/tea making facilities...i think we waste by using milk 4 cereals.

Floh
23 Jun 2009 05:35

Hhawu LM, They do grocery for staff mos. Thina we don't have tea at work. IZONO?

Lbg
23 Jun 2009 07:58

Floh where do you work??????U think coffee is grocery Lol

Best-Achiever
23 Jun 2009 07:58

tjo guys, kanti your bosses are how.... i can not start my day without a fresh cup of cofee.... then a call to mama, dad, BF and my elder sister, then go to gmail, TVSA and then my work email ... it is only after an hour that i open anything that concerns work.

shame maybe my company/management must be taken for cost management course becase we are still using paper cup only few people use mugs. The day they will complain about phhone and internet i know i'll be on the top of the list, i seldomy use my cellphone to make a call...LOL

Molilo
23 Jun 2009 08:07

BA ur company sounds like my previous company, I never experience such luxury in my life that is the only thing I miss about it. I will make calls like the is no tomoro. With my current job there is no benefits, every cent is counted. No free calls no free grocery. U pay for everything from ur own pocket.

Brown Shuga
23 Jun 2009 08:16

<<<<i can not start my day without a fresh cup of cofee.... then a call to mama, dad, BF and my elder sister, then go to gmail, TVSA and then my work email ... it is only after an hour that i open anything that concerns work.>>>> OMG!!! Lemme go back to work.

No offence bloggers but if I ever have a company, I will never give any of you a job!

Lessie
23 Jun 2009 08:18

Can i join your company Kaka ? Mareto sometimes, haibo.......LMAO

Molilo
23 Jun 2009 08:21

LOL @BS, the devil u know is better than the one u do not know, cut TVSA, FB, Gmail, etc and have a switch board system for calls, and all staff members must have dialing pins, they must account for all the calls they make

nekzo
23 Jun 2009 08:22

kakapana where do you work?

Best-Achiever
23 Jun 2009 08:25

No offence bloggers but if I ever have a company, I will never give any of you a job!

wait ntil you have to face me in an interview and see the kind of project i have excellently completed, you'd beg me to work in your company....lol and i'll still blog and you wont care because we will be blogging together ...tl tl tl

Brown Shuga
23 Jun 2009 08:28

<<<i'll still blog and you wont care because we will be blogging together ...tl tl tl>>> LOL

felfel
23 Jun 2009 08:32

nekzo
23 Jun 2009 08:33

@Brown Shuga we are not that bad singakusebenzela kahle

dali
23 Jun 2009 08:38

this year is gonna be boring! no strictly cum dancing! i bet we r gonna be watching repeats all year round!

savana
23 Jun 2009 08:42

It realy depands on how much you get paid .if you pay me pinuts i will also crontribute as little as i can to ur co.

Best-Achiever
23 Jun 2009 08:45

if it wasnt for the "black listing thing" which now real sound like "blackmail" i wasnt gonna renew my TV Lic, they are cancelling all the good shows, the ones that they are airing we even finish the sentence before they do bacause it is no longer even a repeat but re re re re re re re up to infinite ..mnxm

Mathaz
23 Jun 2009 08:53

Most of you guys have got it easy. I would prefer So you think you can dance over SA has got talent..

Katlegom
23 Jun 2009 08:55

This kind of situation started over a year ago awhere i work. they have reduced the supply of fresh mild in the morning, we used to have Everfresh, but now we get some cheap brand.
milk is for strickly tea/coffee, you cant use it for cereals anymore

The also told us to try keep our telephone bill under R500, but i always triple that.

but i cant blame them for reducing the supply of fresh mild and everything, these is this old lady who take all the milk not used for the day, dishwashing liquids, handy andy and toilet rolls every afternoon

nekzo
23 Jun 2009 08:56

On Friday on SABC 2 they where playing Inyakanyaka do u still remenber it guys........LOL

Onkez
23 Jun 2009 09:02

Not forgetting "Ubambo Lwam" on SABC 1 weekdays.

GML
23 Jun 2009 09:05

Guys please dont say this.

I'm in charge of groceries here at work. I order enough grocceries for 6 months in Jan and July. Which is +- R15 000 worth of groceries including milk, cheese, bread, butter, hot chocolate, chips for the bar.

This excludes Booze- all types of booze even those that I have never heard of before. Booze comes to R5000.

We have to be on the internet all the time. We have to monitor the situations around the continent that pose a security threat to anything and anyone. So we have no limited access. Except for FB and gmail etc. Otherwise one can research as much as one likes. We are by no means green or saving money.

Did i metion R20 000 worth of Stationery i ordered in January this year???

Msoe
23 Jun 2009 09:08

Mina in our company I only pay for personal calls. They give me a list of calls made by my phone code and tell me to tick private calls. To all personal calls I tick i never tick my bf's, my sister's, my best friend's and my mothers because I call them everyday without thinking how much its gonna cost the company. Oh and we do get coffee, tea, milk and sugar but we not allowed to use milk for anything else other than tea or coffee. You bring your own for cereals and other stuff.

lady gaga
23 Jun 2009 09:09

How can u start work without a nice fresh cup of coffee??? dat one is a must have, and as for the fone thing, at my company we can only make calls in the managers office, cause their phone are the only ones that can make outside calls.
so its easy if you have a key to your bosses office so dat when he is in meetings in other offices you can make more calls before he returns but even when he's there if you ask he dsn't mind, but imagine using the phone for personal reasons calling friends in front of him, its scary!!!

Strolicious
23 Jun 2009 09:19

No free coffe in my co. they provide us with a kitchen equiped with a microwave, urn, cups & saucers and some furniture qha. Felfel same here sina tea club...

Ms. Jay
23 Jun 2009 09:24

No free coffe in my co. they provide us with a kitchen equiped with a microwave, urn, cups & saucers and some furniture qha. U bring ur own anything and everything, from coffee,milk, teabags etc. the trick is to order a lot of these for a meeting and when theres leftover teabags and sugar then you take for yourself.

This is now the case here as well, 3 years ago we used to have the luxury of free anything! tea was normally accompanied by a light breakfast, lunch was often salads + sambos or pies, at four we had biscuits and tea......now things have gone from hero to zero, every month we would give our staff food packs with basics on top of their pay!

now we don order for meetings @ all!!!! my boss takes the client out now......he says its cheaper blah blah blah.......the company no longer fuels my car or provides a pick up for the other staff, we no longer get free vacations, no cellphone allowance - we use a switch board - the only good thing is unlimited internet usage coz thats our primary business....we have tightened the BELT........

Ms. Jay
23 Jun 2009 09:27

GML that used to be us not so long ago.......

felfel
23 Jun 2009 09:28

I also order stationery for my department, a responsibility i greatly value, i get to order my own empty CDs and stationery for my nephews, i upgrade them on stationery atleast twice a year. Oh and guess what, I'm in the materials department also, we get samples which i get to keep sometimes, from gloves,socks,some ugly shoes, etc... last year i was rocking a stunning Goat leather jacket for a whole month in winter from the SAPS.

maud
23 Jun 2009 09:31

guys you make me realise how blessed we are in our company, you use the phone as much as you can, and to tell you the truth when you start working here you abuse it ,but in two months time you are so bored you dont even touche it,

breakfast in the morning , kelloggs , soft porridge you name it

lunch ,five times a week different menu , we have a chef who cooks for us.

you drink tea as much as you like there is no tea time . if your enternet is not working , it will be fixed within a minute. know are know why after eleven years i am still here.

and yesterday it was my birthday ,they took the whole company out to celebrate, but off cause we are only twelve.

trust me ngizofela la , angisayindawo

TheLady
23 Jun 2009 09:45

When I was at IBM..yip I'm exposing them...we were not allowed to use their milk for cereals...there was a note on the fridge "Milk in this fridge must be used for tea and coffe only, it's not for cereals or just drinking" or something along those lines...mncim

GML
23 Jun 2009 09:47

Our company paid for us to go with our partners (families) to Sun City for a weekend. They hired Vito's booked for Dinner's nad Breakfasts and still took us to watch the British Lions and Royal 15 match. Also the Bafana against Norway game at Royal Bafokeng. We we in 2 suites people. Now I'm hoping the company gets us suite tickets for Confed final if there's tickets left.. and 2010.

I wonder why I want to leave this company.

dali
23 Jun 2009 09:51

lmao maud! u forgot the magazines damn i envy u!

TheLady
23 Jun 2009 09:55

I miss Dbn-previous company had free breakfast and lunch...buffet style...EVERYTHING well almost...was there...free chocolate bars..Nestle of course, free cans and bottled water (a bar fridge or 2 for every department) sandwiches and muffins for tea times, all types of teas, coffees etc... in the pause areas car washed mahala every Friday..free gym and R300 for a personal trainer...hmmm

I guess there are good companies in SA.

Kakapana
23 Jun 2009 09:58

i work for independent newspapers...

Best-Achiever
23 Jun 2009 10:00

after eleven years i am still here

what Maud .... i'll never be able to do such while im still referred to a youth ..hhayi no .... im not planning to stay in one company for more that two years, im taking advantage of the disadvantaged background they are labelling me with.

i'l consider staying in one company for long when im 40

Best-Achiever
23 Jun 2009 10:03

you forgot to say that...month end was a pain TheLady ... salary-wise ...LOL

Kakapana
23 Jun 2009 10:09

ha!!! the The lady wawusebenzaphi?????

Katlegom
23 Jun 2009 10:24

@GML please holla at a brotha when you resign so that i can apply for your post

@Kakapana, do you have a position available at your Co, which independent newspapers, the one in downtown jozi or DBN?

TheLady
23 Jun 2009 11:00

If you are black BA.

Green.arrow
23 Jun 2009 12:01

...wow...i nevy some of u Maud...wow....all twelve of you are living larger than the
...but some of this stories are funny...

Things changed in my co. when the new CEO came in (and he's black..i luv that man)...there was over R11million loss that year....mostly due to theft (those women ba sleg....)...and irreponsible use of cash especially (not just petty cash)

Ssso....he cut down on division parties, i rememebr the fisrt few months when we had tea and 1 muffin in a divsion meeting...a stretch from the buffet we used to have....makgowa nne a kwatile bjang.....

And then computer rules came.....pple are used it...and any cash above 10 grand has to be approved by him...

But the year end party is till to dddie for....

But i love web surfing....its very very hard for me...

myname
23 Jun 2009 12:07

1. We blog wayawaya, there is no limit. But we r not allowed to watch videos esp YOUTUBE etc.

2. Five roses, Rooibos or whatever tea, coffee & milk are free but r not free 4 cereals but u know BLACKS....(yhazi sometimes some people benze amahloni, amacheri a worse).

3. Every1 has his/her mug.

4. Sometimes they buy coookies.

I once worked at PTA for 1 month. It was like TL 's company, BUFFET. We did not carry lunchbox or anything.

You would choose if ufuna ntoni. From fruit salads, cereals, muffins, sausage, meat (pork, mutton, chicken etc) anything. They supplied everything from breakfast to dinner. If you work late they serve dinner at 6.

But i heard they went bankrupt & i knew what caused that, UKUDLA.

myname
23 Jun 2009 12:13

Oh we only call landline to landline not cellphones, iyandigulisa ke le but its fine. Maar if its a business call, u have to ask the boss' cellphone.

Ngathi ndine picture ke calling my mum, ndigobhoza from his selula.

monchooza
23 Jun 2009 12:25

to reduce costs they must cut back on the make up...they can even go natural

Amza
23 Jun 2009 12:34

Okay, where I work, we still get free coffee, milk, still water, tea, magazines and we can surf the ent all the way except watching videos and we get cds every now and then, so it is not that bad.

LM
23 Jun 2009 12:41

kwakwakwakwakwakwakwakwa Mochoo!!

geeze, some of you work for the Googles of this world mos:-)

Best-Achiever
23 Jun 2009 12:46

can i please get the names of those companies with muffins/buiscuits and platters ....

maud
23 Jun 2009 13:56

@dali- ohh thats nothing to them

realist
23 Jun 2009 14:02

Imagine how much the phone bills would cost if all the companies were run by women.

maud
23 Jun 2009 14:07

@Best-Achiever - when i started here it was my first year doing my articles, i was still young and very active not that i am complaining, you will stick to one place if it gives you what you want and you are able to jump to any department you want to, whats important is to love your job, mina sengaba yilaba ongababuza noma yini re. i company and they will answer you without even thinking hard.

no decision is taken without my concern.but well who am i fooling there are those days that i feel like screaming.nothing is perfect and i always say to people its not always about money.

rainbowjnb
23 Jun 2009 14:15

Oooh guys, you'd love to work where I am.
We only buy percolated coffee, the best Brazilian brands. We have a capuccino machine. Tea, milo and hot chocolate in winter. Lunch is ordered out once a week. Recently we got a LCD TV + full DSTV. We gotta watch the games mos!!!
Unlimited phone and internet. Company cellphone with unlimited calls + 3G card.

Yet my cellphone bill never exceeds the 500 free minutes I get on the contract. Our Telkom bill is like R1000 (excl. line rental).

I've just sat down on my desk again after watching an hour of Masterchef!
Yet I do a job for 3 people, happily no moaning. Employers need to realise the more they give, the more they will get in return.

realist
24 Jun 2009 09:47

According to TVSA, the broadcaster has been circulating e-mails asking that employees make an effort to save where they can and use less milk, but employees say that "SABC management has Nescafe Gold and biscuits".

Quoted by NEWS24 today.

makgotso
24 Jun 2009 12:10

Companies cut costs like crazy, where I work they recently stopped supplying us with biscuts and snacks we used to get that every day. But ke I'm not complaing 'cause we don't drink tap water, we only drink mineral water, cooldrinks, lunch awu the chef is cooking for us only for R50 a month. Abaphuza ugologo buhlale bu available

As for i internet no limit but only 3G abakhala ngayo mnximm I alway use the excuse of not being in the office most of the time and I'm researching some stuff for my studies. I wonder what excuse am I gonna use after completing my studies.

makgotso
24 Jun 2009 12:10

Authentic views
24 Jun 2009 14:39

thats so not normal, we drink milk at M-net

pitch
24 Jun 2009 14:47

Tjo! you guys are living at large musi. you dont have to drag your feet in the morning thinking about being in that office.
Where i work, there is nothing for mahala.If its for tea or coffee, you bring your own, no one is going to supply with that.

As for the phone its not really free and only few people got the access to the phone only if your job involve contacting the clients, if not you arent getting any. Your phone will only call internal and that's it.

Though we do make private calls we are not allowed its strictly for business. Before we use to receive a statement every month with the list of all calls you made and you highlight your private calls so you can pay for them but lately there seems to be a bit of a problem we havent get any.
I dont want to imagine the day they will bring it i hope i will be long gone also joined one of you guys' company cause i also want to have that kind of benefit.

FK
24 Jun 2009 14:57

@ realist - he he he he - so these guys are also silent bloggers. I mean really. This Thinus Ferreira guy did not have a story this morning so he decided to pinch this article. At least he did credit TVSA.

TVSA rocks.

GML
24 Jun 2009 15:05

Guys I must warn you.

Our company has been recruited to investigate certain big companies( I cannot mention names). This is for retrenchment purposes. Like checking phone records, internet usage etc, etc.

So 'I suggest those who fear that their companies might be retrenching should take it easy on the blogging..

@Cheesa: be extra careful. They may be investigating

Only TVSA members can reply to this thread. Click here to login or register.