Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda on Thursday rejected a report that he was suspending his director-general as "false, spurious and malicious".

Nyanda had noted a newspaper report suggesting that he was about to suspend the department's director-general Mamodupi Mohlala, following alleged disagreements over the issuing of tenders by the department and other matters, his spokesperson Tiyani Rikhotso said.

"Minister Nyanda dismisses the allegations contained in the report as false, spurious and malicious."

The Minister exercised political oversight over the department and gave it policy direction in line with his statutory and constitutional mandate.

Furthermore, he respected the legal prescripts defining the scope, nature and extent of his responsibilities.

He was not involved in issuing or adjudication of tenders, which were the responsibility of the department's management.

Nyanda would continue with his responsibility of ensuring that the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), Public Service Act (PSA) and all relevant laws and regulations were adhered to and not flouted within the department. Nyanda would not address the department's administration and human resources issues through the media.

This position was in deference to his staff, including Mohlala.

"The Minister is dealing with issues that are impacting the management of the department internally and according to the applicable laws, regulations and public service policies," Rikhotso said.

Business Day reported on Thursday that Nyanda was expected to suspend Mohlala following repeated disagreements over tenders she refused to sign.

It was understood that Mohlala warned Nyanda this week that removing the administration of tenders from her would violate the PFMA.

On Monday, Nyanda instructed that all tenders for the department be cancelled until they had been "discussed and approved by the minister".

Business Day said that he also changed Mohlala's job description, effectively stripping her of some powers, including the administering of tenders, for which she was responsible as accounting officer.

In a statement later, Democratic Alliance (DA) spokesperson Niekie van den Berg, said that he was writing to the Public Protector to ask for an investigation into all State tenders awarded to Nyanda.

"This latest incident is just another in a long list of tender scandals that the minister has been embroiled in and it is has now become necessary that all tenders involving companies linked to the Minister be investigated in order to determine whether there were any other irregularities in their awarding.

"It is at the very least highly suspicious that the minister seems to want to remove the key obstacle to his handling his department and its finances in its entirety," he said.

United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa said the UDM was perturbed by Business Day's report.

"What is even more disturbing is that the reported source of the conflict between the minister and the DG relates to undue ministerial interference in State tenders to favour people linked to the minister."