SBC suffering from major brain-drain

THERE have been reports of a major brain drain going on at SBC lately.

According to reliable sources, for this year alone, a number of senior and “professional” staff have submitted their resignations and have moved on to other fields of work or even left the country to seek employment abroad. This includes senior journalists and newsreaders, the popular and much loved Cindy Wirtz, Rassin Vannier and Marie-France Racombo, producers Jose Henrie and Jules Hoareau, and sports journalist Andy Henriette. The list has not been exhausted because there have been reports of several junior journalists who have also resigned from the organization. Apart from the newsroom staff, there are also other employees who lately have left for one reason or another. The newsroom editor, who has the task of running the newsroom, is now appearing more and more often on our TV screens to present the news.

According to many loyal SBC viewers and listeners, over the years they have gotten used to following these journalists and producers' programmes on television and the radio. The departure of these journalists has now created a void in their lives. Those who without fail are used to tuning in to watch or listen to their favourite programmes will now have to face the fact that the programmes will be scrapped altogether or be presented by a new face or voice. Such examples include “Melodies des Iles”, “Un Nouveau Jour” and so on.

However, in addressing more serious matters the question on everyone's mind by now should be: What is going on at SBC? Why are all these people resigning? Can SBC make up for the talents and workforce lost before it finally grounds to a halt?

There are allegations that the newsroom staff wrote and signed a petition last year which they submitted to the president. The supposed petition was mainly about their need for better working conditions, overseas training, a better salary package and benefits. While not being able to comment on the outcome of the petition, the number of resignations does not reflect a positive outcome on the incident, all indications are that President Michel has failed to deal with this issue adequately.

Since the beginning of the year SBC has been carrying out a recruitment exercise whereby they are searching for journalists and producers, even offering to train those who have no previous experiences. There have been questions about how soon the new recruits would be able to develop and reach the level of expertise that people like Jose Henrie and Jules Hoareau took ample years to develop. In what appears to be an effort to make up for this deficiency, SBC has been recruiting a number of people who worked for them in the past but for one reason or another left and moved on to other fields of work. These people, who are only working as part-timers for the moment, are now being looked upon as the last logs keeping the SBC raft afloat.

In Seychelles, in particular under the SPPF, before choosing a career one should make an extra effort in finding out what are the short and long term benefits, as well as what else one stands to gain in general especially if one is not affiliated with the ruling junta, before signing on the dotted line.

April 11, 2008
Copyright 2007: Seychelles Weekly, Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles