Calls by the Democratic Alliance (DA) to have minister Siphiwe Nyanda axed are baseless and unfounded, says the Department of Communications (DOC).
SA's official opposition party called on president Jacob Zuma to rid his Cabinet of five ministers, including communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda.
DA Parliamentary leader Athol Trollip says Zuma's administration is “facing a crisis of accountability” after a year-and-a-half in office. He called on Zuma to axe the “weakest links”.
Trollip wants Nyanda fired because his “ministerial tenure has been marred by poor performance and allegations of mismanagement and corruption and self-service”. Trollip argues that “under Nyanda, both the SABC and Sentech have floundered”.
However, the DOC says there are many indications of progress under Nyanda's appointment.
No petty issues
”Ever since minister Nyanda was appointed, we are not ashamed to declare that we have managed to make ground-swelling progress,” says the DOC.
It adds that some of the matters upon which progress was made include policy intervention for lowering mobile termination rates, the role played by Sentech and Telkom in the staging of the World Cup, the ICT sector consultation with key role players, the implementation of the digital TV policy position as adopted by Cabinet, and the launch of hospital Web sites in support of national health programmes.
The department also says it has succeeded in availing broadcasting services to marginalised communities through the deployment of low-power transmitters, introducing the ICASA Amendment Bill, having SA elected to serve on the ITU Council, and introducing the broadband policy framework and the spectrum policy.
“We challenge the DA to question the ministry's capabilities on policy matters that fall within the mandate of the department, not on petty administrative issues,” says ministerial spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi.
Not a first
This is the second time in two weeks the DA has called for Nyanda to be removed from his post. Last week, DA shadow communications minister Natasha Michael said Nyanda should be removed if Cabinet is reshuffled, and he should account to the public for the mismanagement at the department.
Trade union Solidarity also previously called for Nyanda to be axed, because of his links to General Nyanda Security Risk Advisory Services, since renamed Abalozi Security. The security company had been awarded several contracts that have since been canned because of irregularities.
Top of the DA's “weakest links” list is public service and administration minister Richard Baloyi, who is in charge of the department that oversees the State IT Agency. He should be dismissed and the ministry's role should be reviewed, says Trollip.
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