Top Billing (TV programme)

• Alex Jay
• Kevin Savage
• Phil Wright

In 2009, Tswelopele staff members suffered a 10% wage cut for 7 months after Tswelopele waited for SABC to renew their contract. This was accompanied by an 8-day late salary payment, after the company had apparently spent R400,000 expanding their working premises.[7]

In 2017, Tswelopele faced additional controversy when the broadcaster was unable to pay[8] not only Tswelopele but several South African production companies that produced their content. This resulted in salaries being paid late. An article published by ZAlebs[9] stated that the presenters had also not been paid.

An anonymous email was sent out to management and everyone that responded to the thread was subsequently fired. The email read:

"Dear Patience and Management,

I've been considering sending this email out for a long time and feel that now is the best and right time to do because of the three points of discussion below:

1.Salaries Everyone is talking about Cardova paying all the employees 25% of their salary on the 31st of December and the other 75% on the 5th of January. No official email has been sent about this and none of the managers are talking to the teams however many are speaking about it. Its so terrible and shameful that the company that I work for, for so many years, chooses to not consider the time of year, families and the families like mine who are celebrating Christmas. I feel like Cardova operates under the rules of a sweat shop and lacks any empathy for the employees who help on the daily to keep Cardova running like a well-oiled machine. Do you not value us enough to consider us and our families at this time of year? What about debit orders and school preparation?! Can this please be relooked at and reconsidered along with the month to month pay date because further to all of this, it's such an unsettling feeling not knowing when exactly we'll get paid. Many companies honor their staff with a simple agreement of paying them on a month-to-month basis without fail on the same date. Cardova expects their clients to pay on a set date, Cardova expects clients to honor them so I am sure that although Cardova does make considerable month to month profits with all of the large scale clients, why can the staff who help to ensure that clients like Woolies are kept happy, not be paid on a set monthly date like the 25th or 27th instead of having to worry about when the next pay date is?

2.Management I have enjoyed the years and memories at Cardova but I have become sad at Cardova through the years and this is not because of the work but because of the management. Patience, although you're a good business woman you dont respect us and don’t know how to address your employees and this disrespect has gotten worse through the years. You shout at me and anyone you feel should be shouted at if something goes slightly wrong. Even though you are empathetic you also come across as leading like a dictator. Please stop screaming at people. Paul, has a lot of experience but Paul is in no way a dictator, he is only a tyrant. He calls us stupid, bullys us, screams and belittle's us. People either move to joburg or to other companies because of Paul. EVERY SINGLE person who has left Carova this year or is in the process of leaving says that Paul is one of the major reasons for leaving. He treats the presenters like gold most times, he treats Patience and the people on his level with respect but anyone else is just an egyptian building his pyramid for him and he does not care what he says to people as long as they do what he wants them to do. Paul has no people management skills and severely lacks the ability to motivate a team. Please stop being rude and disrespectful. Alshe has pulled Afternoon Express on the straight road but never takes in to account schedules and never plans good and because of this, people are often arguing and scrambling because of Alshe and when we try to talk to her about it, she screams at us! Michelle often helps but most times the marketing manager is never available to meet with account managers and always approves stuff when she wants to which is always late in the day just before the promo must air but she expects the account managers and editors to make it happen the next day. Apart from Michelle, why does management feel that it is ok to verbally abuse us and scream and shout at us?!

3.Communication When a new client is signed it everyone knows about but internal stuff are never communicated and spoken about openly. Everything is either hush hush or employees are just not told about the stuff that affects us like this salary thing. Can management please talk between yourselves and communicate to us how general communication will be improved because now it sucks

4.Turnover and loss I’ve worked all over SA and Africa but this is the only production house where I have worked with such a huge employee staff turnover. The amount of directors, account managers and background people like editors we’ve lost is scary - and sadly, we will lose more soon. And we loose really nice people and people who commit to the hours. Almost every person at cardova is willing to put in extra hours, hell people like editors are often working 16 / 20 hour long days but they don’t get paid back or get any overtime or a day off, no ways, heads will roll if people are honored for going above and beyond to make the shows a success and like I previously said, keeping the clients happy. We have lost amazing people to companies like urban brew and cheeky media but Cardova makes no effort to hold on to them. You can throw money at people but if you don’t make the working conditions better then money will always be a second thought when people like me think about leaving Cardova to companies like cheeky media who can offer happiness and satisfaction in the workplace.

5.HR Loumar and Shamiel are trying but I feel sorry for them because its like they don’t have the proper support in place to run this place properly from a human resourcing perspective. Trying to get forms and papers from HR is a nightmare and takes forever. Applying for leave is touch and go. Apart from this, HR is suppose to be a department where employees can go and approach and discuss issues being experienced at work but I don’t feel comfortable talking to them because they are hard to get hold of and just come across like they are not objective and too close to management. Can management please relook at the HR department and processes and tell us how this can be improved.

Management - The intention of this email is not to be evil but to raise openly what everyone is talking about also I am to scared to talk to management because of all the shouting but also management only reacts to clients, never to us, the people who work with and for you and who also need your support and guidance. I hope you will read this with an open mind and address the challenges raised and tell us how you will help instead of being the angry parents we’ve come to see you as.

Truth."

A popular twitter journalist reported on it and somehow ended up getting a full 3 interview feature on the company's breakfast show the very next day. His tweets from 2017 can still be viewed. https://twitter.com/PhilMphela?t=aLu1eRA_9BhQu5Wdii36pg&s=09