Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda has been removed from cabinet and replaced by former-deputy minister of Communications and current deputy-minster of Public Service and Administration Minister Roy Padayachie.
President Jacob Zuma announced the exit late this afternoon (Sunday) at a last minute press briefing on what he termed a Cabinet "reconfiguration". In total 26 appointments - some in newly created Deputy Ministry positions - were made across 22 ministries.
In the press briefing Zuma noted that it had been 17 months since his inauguration and the appointment of the National Executive. Since then, government had completed a process of reconfiguration and had put systems in place to improve service delivery.
"During this period, we also had time to study the functioning of the current administration in order to ascertain what works and what needs to be changed or strengthened. We have taken a long and hard look at some of the departments with a view to strengthening some Ministries," said Zuma.
Long anticipated
Rumours of a cabinet reshuffle have dominated political and public service circles for some time.
The communications ministry has gone from bad to worse under Nyanda, a retired general and former head of the South African National Defence Force. Recently, acting-director general, Harold Wesso admited to a Parliamentary committee the department is a sinking ship. Additionally it has been Nyanda himself that has drawn controversy to the department.
It was Nyanda's purchase of two extravagant BMW's that first drew public attention in July last year, to vehicle procurement amongst the ministers. A year later, Nyanda's appreciation for the finer things in life was reinforced with the revelation to Parliament of hotel bills exceeding half a million rand. At the time, a report in Mail & Guardian alleged the now ex-Minister spent R700 on a meal for himself alone, stirring a public backlash. Nyanda, in his personal capacity, has also been the subject of several investigations by the Public Protector into allegations of tender irregularities. The Public Protector found the General innocent to all the allegations.
However, Nyanda's actions have required the intervention of the President on at least two occasions. In the first, Zuma was named as a respondent in court papers following Nyanda's firing of his then director-general Mamodupi Mohlala. Mohlala maintained Nyanda did not have the authority, only the president did. Zuma deployed Public Service and Administration Minister Richard Baloyi to solve the issue and Mohlala is now employed in the Department of Trade and Industry. In the second instance, Nyanda stepped out of line when voicing his support for former Transnet Freight Rail CEO Siyabonga Gama. In this case, Zuma publically chastised the minister.
Amid noise of employee dissatisfaction, intimidation and mass exits from within department walls, has come the emergence of chaos within Communication's state-owned entities. The SABC and Sentech have over recent months been fodder for news media, with reports of mismanagement, corruption, fights among board members and failure to deliver operational plans a regular occurrence.
On the other side of the public service has been the private sector noting its growing, and now urgent, concern over their ability to produce enough set top boxes by the November 2011 deadline to switch over to digital TV signal. The set top boxes are required to convert the new digital TV transmission into a signal older televisions can read. The public sector is unable to proceed with manufacturing of these set-top boxes until a standard for digital TV is decided on.
Baloyi still in the seat
Meanwhile, Richard Baloyi, Minister of Public Service and Administration, is to remain in place despite suggestions that he too would appear on the President's list of outgoing ministers. Many believed Baloyi's handling of the public sector remuneration negotiations, which resulted in widespread strike action, would be enough for Zuma to give him the boot.
Baloyi does see changes to his ministry, however. With deputy minister Roy Padayachie moving over to lead Communications, Baloyi now has a new deputy minister, Ayanda Dlodlo.
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