Gigaba at the mercy of Ramaphosa

MALUSI Gigaba’s vigorous campaigning for the ANC and vehement denials that he had given permission for the Oppenheimer family to run the Fireblade Aviation terminal at OR Tambo International may not be enough to save him from the axe this week.

By Wednesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa will have to comply with Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s recommendations that the president take action against Gigaba. And the odds do not appear to favour the Home Affairs minister.

While Gigaba maintains there is a smear campaign to get rid of him because of his possible rise to the presidency of the party, he remains a central figure in state capture and has not fully answered questions on his role in the capture of state-owned enterprises.

He has insisted that Mkhwebane and the Constitutional Court have relied on “notes” that he made regarding Fireblade’s terminal and that he did not give any form of official approval.

Gigaba now finds himself at the mercy of Ramaphosa and the president will not want be seen as taking a soft stance on corruption. Getting rid of Gigaba will have an impact on unity in the ruling party, but to ignore the public protector’s report will also send out mixed signals.

The latter is something that Ramaphosa, who has linked the fight against corruption to his investment drive, wants to avoid at all costs.