Dear Editor
The DA can confirm that Minister Malusi Gigaba failed to declare the naturalisation of members of the Gupta family to Parliament and in doing so has acted illegally, breaking the Citizenship Act.
According to a letter sent by the Director-General to the Home Affairs Committee today, “it was an omission” to not openly declare to Parliament that members of the Gupta family had been naturalised.
Minister Gigaba personally granted Gupta family members citizenship in South Africa, overriding officials and the Director General, and then failed to follow the law to make his decisions public.
Cleary Minister Gigaba was acting to hide the truth that he had personally granted the Guptas citizenship.
According to section 5(9)(b) of the South African Citizenship Act 88 of 1995 5(9)(b) the Minister must “within 14 days after the commencement of the sittings of Parliament in each year” table in Parliament the names of persons granted citizenship because of “exceptional circumstances” and must include the reasons for the early granting of citizenship.
Gigaba failed to table the names of the Guptas, as confirmed by the Director General, and which the DA can confirm after scrutinising the tablings from that period.
By failing to table the Guptas’ citizenship in Parliament, Gigaba has breached the Executive Members Ethics Act which imposes on Ministers the requirement “to meet all the obligations imposed on them by law”.
There is mounting evidence that Minister Malusi Gigaba, his ANC cabinet colleagues and President Jacob Zuma have bent the rules to benefit the Guptas across the board.
This is yet more evidence that makes the DA call for a full Ad Hoc Parliamentary Committee on State Capture to be urgently created. The extent of the capture of the ANC by the Gupta family grows by the day.
Regards
Haniff Hoosen MP
DA Shadow Minister of Home Affairs
