Today’s judgement by the Labour Court over the SABC vs four journalists it dismissed means “democracy triumphed and Hlaudi Motsoeneng lost,” Solidarity CEO, Dirk Hermann said.

Hermann was speaking at media briefing held shortly after the Labour Court ordered the SABC to reinstate Krivani Pillay, Suna Venter, Foeta Krige and Jacques Steenkamp with immediate effect.

The court also ruled that the ban on footage depicting the destruction of public property and the dismissals of the journalists were unlawful.

The SABC must also state who the persons behind the dismissals were and why they shouldn’t be liable for the costs of the case which was heard over two days last week.

“Solidarity and each of the applicants join South Africa in sharing in the delight with the ruling. We knew all along that we would win as our case was morally and juristically justified,” Hermann said.

“The principles that have prevailed here are freedom of speech, press freedom, the right of the public to be informed and the curbing of executive powers…Our members can now return to work to do what they are passionate about, and that is to serve the public by providing information to them. Through it all they were resolute to protect the principles upon which our democracy is based – even if they had to pay a high price for it personally,” he added.

Hermann added that they would the journalists return to work and make sure the SABC doesn’t prohibit them from doing their jobs.

Should the broadcaster indeed do anything to stop them, it will be in contempt of court.

Journalists thank South Africa for the support

Although the four journalists are not allowed to speak on the judgement, they did express their appreciation to their families, colleagues, Solidarity and the rest of the country for the continued support they received over the past month.

“The tremendous support we got felt so warm… I’ve got a new respect for our profession, journalists are fantastic people,” Krige said.

Steenkamp thanked his and the families of all the journalists, while Pillay thanked all her colleagues within and outside the SABC.

“This isn’t the end of road..We are working on Constitutional Court bid…Keep an eye on the story,” Venter said.

Read a copy of the judgement below.

Judgement handed down by Labour Court in Solidarity vs #SABC case