Communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda is planning to suspend department director-general Mamodupi Mohlala, according to a newspaper report.

Business Day reports on Thursday that Nyanda may suspend Mohlala following “repeated disagreements over tenders she refused to sign”.

Talk of tension between the minister and the director-general has been swirling for several weeks already, with TechCentral hearing of concerns by Nyanda over the department’s reconsidering of digital terrestrial television broadcasting standards.

SA has adopted the European standard for digital television, but Mohlala has been driving a process to reevaluate that decision, leading to enormous unhappiness among commercial broadcasters, who have warned that switching a rival Japanese/Brazilian standard would set back SA’s digital migration by years and potentially cost the industry hundreds of millions of rand.

But now Business Day says Nyanda has stripped Mohlala of certain administrative powers. The newspaper cites an unnamed source “close to the pair” alleging Mohlala had refused to approve tenders because they had been awarded “to people close to Nyanda and a private company, General Nyanda Security Services”. — Staff reporter, TechCentral

More to follow…