Statement by Minister of Communications, General Siphiwe Nyanda on Zwelinzima Vavi matter

26 June 2010

The Minister of Communications General Siphiwe Nyanda has decided to leave the matter of a defamatory statement made against him by Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi to the African National Congress (ANC).

General Nyanda's decision follows that of the ANC National Working Committee (NWC) this week, condemning Vavi's unsubstantiated utterances and the committee's decision to have the ANC leadership deal with the matter politically.

General Nyanda welcomes the NWC decision and feels relieved by it. "As a disciplined member and leader of the ANC I support and am bound by the position of the NWC on Mr Vavi's defamatory utterances which he made against me personally and in my capacity as a Cabinet minister, a position in which I serve at the behest of my organisation.

I have thus instructed my attorneys to stay the proceedings on this matter in order to allow ANC processes to unfold without hindrance," says General Nyanda.

General Nyanda wants to focus all his time and efforts on his work as Communications Minister.

"The NWC decision has taken the burden of clearing my name against these false statements off my shoulders. I'm confident that the leadership of the ANC will deal with this matter properly," says General Nyanda.

As a former freedom fighter, General Nyanda had dedicated his entire life to the fight for democracy and freedom of speech and he believes that those abusing these hard fought freedoms to besmirch other people's characters need to be stopped from doing so.

"In line with the rule of law and our Constitution, everyone can invoke processes and avenues made available by the law to hold public representatives like myself accountable. Invoking slander and libel only serves to undermine our democracy and its foundations," says General Nyanda.

Statement issued by Tiyani Rikhotso, Department of Communications, June 26 2010

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