Cape Town — Armscor CEO Sipho Thomo has been suspended on full pay pending the outcome of a disciplinary hearing after defiantly refusing to accede to yet another request by the corporation's board for him to resign.

The suspension creates another vacancy at the helm of a state-owned enterprise after a spate of upheavals involving the SABC, Transnet, SAA and Eskom. But the public enterprises ministry gave an assurance yesterday that these critical posts would be filled as soon as possible.

Armscor chairman Popo Molefe yesterday named Armscor GM of acquisitions, Sipho Mkwanazi, as acting CEO until the dispute with Thomo had been finalised and a permanent appointment made.

Molefe said the board met on Wednesday in a bid to reach an amicable parting of ways with Thomo but this had been unsuccessful. Thomo had been informed last week of the board's intentions.

"As there were serious allegations against the CEO, and no agreement could be reached to settle amicably, the board decided to suspend the CEO with full pay and his current benefits. The suspension will continue pending an investigation of disciplinary charges, and the convening of a disciplinary hearing if there is evidence which justifies that," Molefe said.

"It is the intention of the board to deal expeditiously with the said process so as to avoid wastage of public funds. In this regard the board hopes for the co-operation of the CEO."

Molefe told Parliament's portfolio committee on defence last week that he had asked Thomo to quit as Armscor had come to the conclusion that "he's taking all of us down" and that the corporation's woes would be resolved only if he left. However, he had refused.

Thomo's alleged misdemeanours include sexual harassment and the release of confidential information.

He came under the spotlight and earned the ire of Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu when he divulged confidential information to Parliament that the cost of eight Airbus A400M heavy-lift aircraft, now cancelled, had soared from R17bn in 2006 to an "estimated" R47bn.

Democratic Alliance (DA) defence spokesman David Maynier welcomed the suspension, saying Thomo's divisive management and leadership style was "a disaster and caused a virtual civil war between employees at Armscor".

In the past the DA has criticised what it said were Thomo's excessive pay increases which gave him an annual salary of about R1,45m, excluding performance bonuses.

Meanwhile Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan 's spokeswoman, Ayanda Shezi, told Sapa the minister was working on filling the vacant top posts at state-owned enterprises. Institute of Security Studies director Hennie van Vuuren said: "We do need to see some clarity around the leadership of parastatals given their role in service delivery and the large budgets allocated to them by the state."