Autocracy and the General: DA calls Siphiwe Nyanda to appear before parliament

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will be calling on the Minister of Communications, Siphiwe Nyanda, to appear before the portfolio committee on communications to explain the reasons for his dismissal of the Director General (DG) in his department, Mamodupi Mohlala.  It is deeply concerning that the Minister seems to have taken this action on his own accord amidst allegations that he is trying to centralize the control of departmental tenders in his own authority, apparently without due consultation in cabinet or with the president. If that is indeed the case, then the Minister should at the very least explain to parliament the rationale behind this undeniably drastic action and furthermore how the department is going to maintain the separation of duties and powers between its political and civil service heads.

At the end of a sequence of contradictory statements, the Minister euphemistically said that there had been a ‘breakdown in relations' between the DG and himself. This is a remarkable about-face from the representations the Minister made to the public on the 15th of July when reports first began circulating that the DG's dismissal was imminent. The minister's spokesperson, Tiyani Rikhotso, said then that reports of the dismissal were ‘false, spurious and malicious' and that it was ‘highly unfortunate that people indulge in malicious rumour mongering.'

If we are to take these statements at face value, then there has been a seismic shift in relations at the upper echelons of the department in the past fortnight. However, if we consider the more likely case that the department's first aggressive denunciation of reports of the dismissal was nothing more than another incident of the national government's policy of vindictive retaliation whenever it is questioned in any way, then these tensions have existed for some time and are potentially linked to the matter of tender awards, a subject the Minister can hardly afford to be mired in further.

Either way, the public - whom all these officials are elected to serve - has been left in the dark. And it is they that now deserve an explanation. And so the Minister needs to appear before the portfolio committee.

The DA has already requested that the Public Protector investigate the Minister due to the numerous allegations of tender irregularities against him and the deep concern we have that he will be bypassing the administrative framework of the Public Finance Management Act by potentially approving all departmental tenders himself.  This call has become all the more urgent since Ms. Mohlala's dismissal.

The Minister's actions are problematic for two reasons. Firstly, this appears to be the first move in a process whereby one of the necessary distinctions between the bureaucracy and the will of the political party in power has been removed thereby eradicating a bureaucratic barrier that currently prevents members of the ANC from using public funds according to their own personal interests and benefit.

The second is that the minister's actions point towards a disturbing streak of autocratic behavior that seems to quash dissent at all costs. A breakdown between a director-general and a minister is worrying enough, especially given the wider implications for the management of the department as a whole. However, we must ask what constraints will be put on the next Director-General and whether they too will be required to abide strictly to the minister's dictates or have the independence that is supposed to be afforded to our civil servants under our constitutional dispensation.

The Minister should explain the reasons for the dismissal and should also discuss with the committee precisely how the department is to be managed and what the delineation of powers will be between the Minister and the new Director General.

Statement issued by Ian Davidson, MP, Democratic Alliance Chief Whip, July 27 2010

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