DA to table a substantive motion to against Gigaba for Gupta citizenship fiasco

7 March 2018

The DA will tomorrow table a substantive motion in the National Assembly against Home Affairs Minister, Malusi Gigaba, to ask that he be referred to the the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members Interests for misleading Parliament and the nation about Gupta naturalisation. The motion will allow for Parliament to sanction Gigaba, in a similar way that Dina Pule was.

This is after the flip-flops yesterday when Gigaba stated that neither Ajay Gupta nor Atul Gupta are South African citizens as Ajay did not renounce Indian citizenship and Atul never applied for South African citizenship.

Several reports indicate that Atul Gupta does have a South African passport and identity number, ending in the digits 080 which are only assigned to South African citizens.

The DA can also confirm that Atul Gupta, Arti Gupta, Shivani Gupta, Rajesh Gupta are all registered voters on our voter registration system and that Atul Gupta’s alleged ID number confirms that he is registered as a voter at the Saxonwold Primary School.

New information available to the DA also reveals that several more members of the Gupta family were granted citizenship. This was not revealed to Parliament as is required by law.

It should come as no surprise that Minister Gigaba is being selective with the truth. On 28 February, the DA moved a substantive motion calling for Gigaba to be referred to the Joint Standing Committee on Ethics based on the Fireblade judgment.

In December last year in a separate matter also relating to Minister Gigaba’s alleged connection the Gupta family, a full bench of the High Court in Pretoria in the matter of Fireblade Aviation (Pty) Ltd v Minister of Home Affairs Case No: 85376-2016/93450-2016, found that Minister Gigaba “…deliberately told untruths under oath” and that his decisions and conduct in the matter were found to be so far out of step with the law that Judge Tuchten concluded that “…the Minister has committed a breach of the Constitution so serious that I could characterize it as a violation”.

It is clear the Minister Gigaba has much to answer for and it is high time that he does.

South Africans have a right to know all information pertaining to the Gupta family citizenship fiasco and for those implicated to be held accountable.

Issued by Haniff Hoosen, DA Shadow Minister of Home Affairs, 7 March 2018