South African department of communications minister, Dina Pule, has hit out at recent corruption claims regarding the country’s digital terrestrial television migration process.

At the weekend the Sunday Times newspaper reported that Pule’s boyfriend, Phosane Mngqibisa, is the business partner of Rudy Rashama who runs local company AU Communications, which is partnered with European company, Nagravision.

According to the local newspaper Nagravision was awarded the contract to install the control system for the set-top boxes (STBs) enabling analogue televisions sets to receive digital signals, because it had an existing relationship with state-owned signal distributor, Sentech.

Pule appointed the state-owned signal distributor, Sentech, in May to administer the conditional access system in the government subsidised STBs.

Last year the Sunday Times also reported controversy around the funding and management of the ICT Indaba where it was claimed that Pule’s boyfriend made at least R6 million.

Pule’s spokesperson, Siya Qoza, denied such claims, saying that the local newspaper was engaging in a “politically motivated smear campaign”.

In the statement, Pule’s spokesperson slammed the story in the Sunday Times as 'misleading', stating that “there is no TV-signal deal in South Africa in relation to the conditional access system for the set top Boxes that are required for the digital migration process that the country will be embarking on later this year.”

“The Sunday Times inaccurately claims that Minister Pule appointed Nagravision to install the conditional access system. This is untrue,” the statement reads.