nbc's Board Chairperson Lazarus Jacobs and Director General Stanley Similo informed the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Recourses that the nbc could have handled the employees' strike differently.

Similo together with his management, accompanied by members of the corporation's board, made their second appearance before the committee.

In 2021, nbc employees went on a nationwide strike, demanding an 8% salary increment and for all workers on one-month contracts to be employed on a full-time basis.

The strike was held under the "No Work, No Pay" rule, which led to the workers having to pay nbc back for the time they were on strike, which was over a month.

The deduction of the employees' salaries, which in some cases resulted in zero pay, had devastating effects on their livelihoods.

And the Director General says that, though technically the nbc implemented the agreed-upon strike rule of "No Work, No Pay," the broadcaster could have considered a less painful sanction.

"Could one have done this differently? Most probably, if one reflects now, there could have been different ways in which the same could have been, but the process as it stood at the time up to where it went, the process, was a process legally sanctioned and signed by all sides as well."

"Were we right throughout the strike? Maybe not, did we make mistakes? Yes,  we did make mistakes. Could we have handled things better? Yes, because our primary responsibility should have been to look after our people, things became emotive, we had a union that was looking out for their members, and not in the best interest of the company," says nbc Board Chair Lazarus Jacobs.

Standing Committee member, Ephraim Nekongo reminded the nbc team that it should have taken into consideration the human aspect before decisions were taken.

"The implementation of "No Work, No Pay" did not say let us deduct for seven months or Let us take your whole salary, I think there we must agree that all of us are human beings. In all of us as humans, that would be taken as if you have punished me for voting or going in the process or demanding and taking part in what I think was my right. I think there is a rule that says you cannot deduct a salary a certain percentage."

The meeting ended in a mutually respectful manner, unlike the first consultation, which was somehow belligerent.