"The SABC has applied for an interdict against us which claims we should not be allowed to go on strike," said Communication Workers Union (CWU) negotiator Vulture Ntukuli.

The application is against the CWU and the Media Workers Association of SA (Mwasa), which received a certificate from the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) on Thursday giving them the right to embark on a protected strike.

The CWU was still canvassing its members on whether they should use the permission to strike, after Parliament's communications portfolio chairperson Ismail Vadi asked them to hold off until after 28 June when the Confederations Cup ends.

The SABC is part of a large team of broadcasters transmitting footage of the games globally.

An SABC spokesperson and a Mwasa spokesperson were not immediately available to elaborate on the interdict, which is set down for hearing at around 2pm on Friday.

The unions went to the CCMA earlier this week where the SABC revised a 12.2 percent multi-term pay offer it was supposed to have implemented in April, to 8.5 percent.

On Thursday, the parliamentary committee was told that the SABC is in a crisis of the "highest magnitude".

Dali Mpofu, reinstated by a court order as chief executive officer after his suspension, said the SABC was in urgent of a new board.

"This is a real, real crisis of the highest magnitude."

Eight members of the 12 member board have resigned so far, leaving the cash strapped SABC powerless to take decisions. The broadcaster is seeking a R2-billion bail-out from the government.

He said employees were "sitting at a public institution on auto pilot, with no leadership".

In addition to these woes, production houses and artists are also owed R60-million in unpaid fees.