THURSDAY, 8.30AM:
SIPHIWE NYANDA, former chief of staff of Umkhonto weSizwe, is to take over as chief of the SA Defence Force in June, following the resignation of General Georg Meiring.
Nyanda, who will be promoted to full general, faces the mammoth task of uniting white and black soldiers who, until 1994, were bitter foes. He said on Wednesday night he feels “humbled by the trust and confidence demonstrated in me by the government”, and will unveil his “vision” for the defence force on the day he takes office.
Nyanda is reported to be popular among SANDF soldiers, who are now 60% black. This popularity will be sorely tested when he faces his most difficult task, cutting down the size of the army while modernising its weapons capability.
Nyanda’s appointment comes only a month after he became a victim of a discredited intelligence report which accused him of masterminding a coup plot against President Nelson Mandela. The report, now believed to be the work of “old guard” officers, led to Meiring’s downfall.
Nyanda, 47, was a sports reporter on the World newspaper in Soweto before he fled the country in early 1976 to join Umkhonto weSizwe. He received military training in East Germany before being infiltrated first into the Transvaal and then the Swaziland border area.
He was made deputy chief of the ANC’s biggest underground mission, Operation Vula, in 1988, slipping into South Africa and remaining active until his capture in 1990, when he was detained for five months. On his release he was made MK chief of staff and a member of the ANC National Executive. He is no longer an active ANC member.
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