Gigaba unduly granted the Guptas citizenship: EFF

THE EFF claimed yesterday that Malusi Gigaba granted the Guptas naturalisation illegally while he was Home Affairs minister.

The EFF released what it claimed were two official letters showing Gigaba’s seeming interference and granting the Guptas citizenship, although their application had earlier been denied because it had failed to meet the requirements.

“Mr GG Hlatshwayo on behalf of the director general correctly denied the Guptas South African citizenship, stating that they did not comply with the requirement in terms of section 5(1)(b) of the South African Act 2010. He proceeds to indicate that the Guptas did not have five years of physical residence in the Republic of South Africa,” the party said yesterday.

The letter, purportedly signed by Hlatshwayo, was dated January 22, 2015.

In it he advised the family to apply again on December 23, 2015 “provided (they) do not exceed 90 days outside South Africa for every year in the five years preceding (their) new application and comply with requirements as prescribed in Citizenship Act, Act 17 of 2010 as amended”.

However, in less than a few months after the failed application, Gigaba, in a letter dated May 30, 2015 then apparently wrote to the Guptas granting them what he termed “early naturalisation”.

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“I have the pleasure in informing you that by virtue of the powers vested in me under section 5(9)(a) in terms of the South African Citizenship Amendment Act 2010, to waive the residential requirements in regards to your application for naturalisation and grant you early naturalisation,” Gigaba wrote in the letter addressed to “Mr A K Gupta and Family”.

The red berets said the Guptas do not qualify to be South African citizens and would challenge their citizenship in court.

“The EFF has therefore taken a decision to approach its lawyers to take the matter to court, so that Gigaba’s favours can be corrected and the Guptas, like all other ordinary foreigners who seek citizenship, must be subjected to due process.

“Gigaba’s decision was irrational and based on nothing else but his corrupt relationship,” the EFF said.

Gigaba was appointed Home Affairs minister in 2014.

He was then moved to head the Treasury in a late-night cabinet reshuffle in March that saw Pravin Gordhan and Mcebisi Jonas fired as Finance minister and deputy minister respectively.

Gigaba’s name has popped up in the leaked #GuptaEmails that implicate him in intimate dealings with the wealthy and politically connected Gupta family. The former Home Affairs minister has denied any wrongdoing and questioned the credibility of the leaked e-mails.