Gigaba must be investigated by Public Protector – DA

Democratic Alliance Chief Whip John Steenhuisen has written to Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, asking her to investigate the alleged breach of the Constitution by Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba.

Gigaba, who delivered the nation’s budget speech address today, has come in the line of fire in recent days, with the EFF calling for his removal from office.

The complaint issued to the Mkhwebane by the DA is a result of a judgment which was issued by the North Gauteng High Court in December, in which Judge Tuchten ruled that Gigaba was found to have “deliberately told untruths under oath”.

The judgment

The judgment refers to the matter between Fireblade Aviation and Gigaba, who was home affairs minister at the time.

Fireblade Aviation, which operates from O R Tambo International Airport, is a privately owned airline charter service by the Oppenheimer family.

On January 28 2016, a meeting was held between Gigaba and his acting chief of staff and Fireblade Aviation, of whom Nicky Oppenheimer was one of the representatives.

The judgment reads the following:

“The main case was in essence brought to enforce an alleged decision by the then Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Gigaba, pursuant to which it was alleged that the minister had granted an application by the applicant in the original proceedings, Fireblade Aviation (Pty) Limited, to operate a fixed based aviation operation (FBO) at a facility at the Oilver R Tambo International Airport (ORTIA).”

According to the judgment, what transpired from the meeting was that Gigaba had committed to approving the request by Fireblade Aviation to operate an FBO, and that Gigaba had signed the “necessary letter” to confirm his decision.

Once the meeting had concluded, Oppenheimer wrote a letter to Gigaba thanking him.

“I was delighted to be told that all outstanding matters had now been resolved and that you had signed the necessary letter to empower Fireblade to offer customs and immigration at its facility on a three-year trial basis,” the letter read.

The letter went on to state that once Gigaba had released the approval letter, at Gigaba’s suggestion, then president Jacob Zuma should officiate the opening of the FBO at a formal function.

“Once the letter has been released we would look forward to a formal function at Fireblade, and you mentioned that we should ask the president whether he might not officiate.

"That would be fantastic and I will be in touch once everything is finalised to see how to set about issuing such an invitation.”

The DA said today that “it was alleged that minister Gigaba revoked the approval he initially granted following pressure from the Gupta family”.

In January last year, Gigaba released a statement on the allegations which had surfaced against him from a Sunday Times article, in which he disputed the claims that he had revoked the decision due to pressure from Denel.

“I wish to state that that though I have taken into account Denel’s concerns with regard to security complaince, this is not the only factor I have taken into account at arriving at my decision,” Gigaba stated.

Gigaba said that the Oppenheimer’s request to have a private port of entry probably fell “outside the provisions of Section 9A (1) of the immigration Act No. 13 of 2002”.

Last year, the Oppenheimers argued in court how the Guptas had influenced Gigaba’s decision to turn down their request, despite going through the formal processes via Denel and the minister.

It was ruled that the department of home affairs should provide Fireblade with customs and immigration services, and on Tuesday, Fireblade welcomed their first set of international tourists into the country.

“We are excited to service international movements, which will complement our current domestic aircraft movements and enable Fireblade Aviation to fulfil its intended potential,” Fireblade Aviation chief executiveJonathan Oppenheimer said.