SABC removes the 2008 clause on interception of employee communication

The South African Broadcasting Corporation on Thursday, announced that it would stop monitoring employees’ private conversations and would remove the 2008 clause on the interception of employee communication from contracts with immediate effect.

“Journalists and their sources of information are adequately protected by the SABC’s Editorial Policies of 2020,” the public broadcaster said.

The broadcaster said while the clause was standard and had been included in all employment contracts since 2008, it was not intended to violate the rights of journalists or their sources of information.

The SABC said it understood how the clause might have been misunderstood and has decided to remove it from all employment contracts with immediate effect.

“This will be effective for all new contracts and will be retrospectively implemented as well. For the avoidance of doubt, the clause will not be applicable for all contracts, existing and new,” it said.

The broadcaster said it had noted concerns raised by various stakeholders regarding a 2008 clause in the SABC employment contracts dealing with the corporation’s right to intercept, monitor and read any communications of its employees.

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