Knives out for Nyanda?

Communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda is about to be recalled, according to rumours making the rounds within political circles.

Several well-placed sources within the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party and government are abuzz with talk of a cabinet shake-up. One of the changes expected to take place in this reshuffle is the withdrawal of Nyanda, they say.

The minister - a retired general and former head of the South African National Defence Force - has been at the centre of several controversies since taking the top spot at the Department of Communications.

Within months of his appointment, Nyanda made headlines with the purchase of two extravagant BMWs. The latest controversy saw President Jacob Zuma taking Nyanda to task for his statements backing former Transnet Freight Rail CEO Siyabonga Gama.

This is not the first time the president has had to intervene in the affairs of the retired general. Earlier this year, a deal had to be negotiated with his axed director-general (DG) Mamodupi Mohlala in order to avoid a costly legal battle around her dismissal. Mohlala agreed to withdraw her legal action and seek alternative employment within the public sector.

Nyanda's participation in various government tenders, through companies in which he holds interests, has also made headlines during the past few months, leading to opposition parties laying complaints against him. However, investigations by the public protector appear to have cleared his name.

The health of the communications department is also being questioned. It is understood that a letter has been sent to the chairperson of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Communications, demanding that Nyanda be called to appear before the committee to answer for the condition of the state-owned entities under the department.

The DA's shadow minister for communications, Niekie van den Berg, says the department's management has gone from bad to worse under Nyanda.

“Two of Nyanda's SOEs are in a state of crisis: the SABC and Sentech. But, apart from a handful of appearances at the beginning of his term, Nyanda has not been seen at the committee.

“Instead, we have seen his acting DG, Harold Wesso, who had to tell us the department was a sinking ship. According to Wesso, many of the department's strategic objectives will be unattainable, yet we can't get an audience with the minister to explain the state of the department's health, or his intentions to turn things around,” he says.

“Nyanda inherited a portfolio which was already struggling. To blame Nyanda for its current state does not take into account the problems that have been there for years and not of his making. Unfortunately, Nyanda's lack of experience and expertise in the communications sector has not helped,” he says.

A story in last week's Mail & Guardian newspaper reported that Nyanda was gathering backing from within the ANC in order to secure the treasurer general role at the party's 2012 conference.

If talk of Nyanda's looming dismissal is accurate, this lobbying could instead be aimed at retaining his current ministerial position, says Silke.

Another report, this time in The Sunday Independent, claims that Nyanda's spokesperson, Tiyani Rikhotso, is to be “redeployed as Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe's chief director of communications”.

In an SMS conversation, where ITWeb queried whether this deployment was connected to changes at the top of the communications ministry, Rikhotso would only respond: “What redeployment to the presidency are you referring to?”

Rikhotso also did not respond directly to questions posed around the minister's future, but instead questioned the responsibility of publishing a story based on rumours.

Several calls and SMSes to the presidency and the president's spokesperson, Zizi Kodwa, have gone unanswered, despite confirmation that these have been delivered on the cellular network.