Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota this week refused to elaborate on the spat between himself and South African National Defence Force chief Siphiwe Nyanda.
The Mail & Guardian reported last week that Nyanda had angrily rejected proposals by Lekota’s director general, January Masilela, to restructure the Department of Defence.
The proposals are that Lekota strip Nyanda of some of his powers in favour of Masilela, who heads the civilian section of the defence department known as the Secretariat for Defence.
Masilela made the proposals in July and Lekota endorsed them in the same month — despite Nyanda’s prostest that the proposals were ”untenable and unlawful”.
The proposals included, among other things, a recommendation that Lekota transfer a number of key South African National Defence Force divisions from Nyanda’s command to the secretariat. The divisions include human resource management, military logistic, command and management information, and military legal services.
The move is the first major step by Masilela, formerly Mpumalanga minister for agriculture, since his appointment in 1999, to ensure tighter civilian control of the military, which Nyanda heads.
Lekota was unable to respond to an M&G inquiry last week as he was out of the country.
On his return last Friday, he told a press conference at Pretoria University that there was no stand-off between him and Nyanda.
When he was approached by the M&G this week Lekota refused to comment, saying the issue ”was an internal matter”.