Citizen reporter The public protector s investigation followed two complaints lodged in terms of the Executive Members’ Ethics Act, 1998, by DA MP Haniff Hoosen and EFF MP Floyd Shivambu. Minister of home affairs Malusi Gigaba. Picture: ANA
This has been corrected by the Office of the Public Protector, which, in its earlier report released by acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka, erroneously said the former minister had abused his powers.
According to the amended report, the former minister exercised his discretion in terms of section 5(9) of the Act, to waive the requirements set out in section 5(1)(c) following him taking into consideration the motivation submitted by officials of the department, who were responsible for processing the early naturalisation application of the Gupta family.
Malusi Gigaba off the hook in Gupta citizenship saga
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Durban - Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has found former Cabinet minister Malusi Gigaba did not abuse his powers when he granted the Guptas citizenship while he was minister of Home Affairs.
Mkhwebane’s office released the finding of her investigation into Gigaba – one of eight reports – on Monday following a more than two-year probe into the matter.
According to her findings, Gigaba, while exercising his discretion as minister of home affairs in granting the Guptas naturalisation, had, however, breached the ethics code by not tabling their names in Parliament as required by law and that he made “misrepresentations in relation to that naturalisation process” during a press conference in 2018 when he denied Atul and Ajay Gupta were not citizens of South Africa.
Malusi Gigaba
NATIONAL NEWS - The Public Protector has found that former home affairs minister Gigaba did not abuse the powers he was afforded in terms of the South African Citizenship Amendment Act, 2010 when granting certificates of early naturalisation to his alleged acquaintances, Ajay Gupta and family.
This has been corrected by the Public Protector’s office, which, in its earlier report released by acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka, erroneously said the former minister had abused his powers.
According to the amended report, the former minister exercised his discretion in terms of section 5(9) of the Act, to waive the requirements set out in section 5(1)(c) following him taking into consideration the motivation submitted by officials of the department, who were responsible for processing the early naturalisation application of the Gupta family.
Ironically, Gcaleka was Gigaba’s legal advisor.
Gigaba said: “I’m sure you’re aware the report was prepared by the Public Protector, not her deputy. You also know that the investigation started long before she was appointed to the office.
“I presume the Office of Public Protector to be professional. Anything else is pure malicious political propaganda, with which I’ve become familiar, especially from certain quarters of the media. They don’t deserve my comments.”
In 2018, it emerged that Gigaba had approved the early naturalisation of Ajay Gupta’s family, despite Ajay refusing to let go of his Indian citizenship.