Nzimande to take over home affairs after Gigaba resigns

Malusi Gigaba has thrown in the towel and resigned as minister of home affairs with one day to go before President Cyril Ramaphosa was due to act on him.

In a statement issued by the presidency, Ramaphosa, who is scheduled to be in Europe on a working trip from tomorrow, says that he has requested transport minister Dr Blade Nzimande to act as minister of Home Affairs in the interim.

The Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane had given Ramaphosa 20 days, ending tomorrow, to discipline Gigaba, who she says violated the Constitution and the executive members ethics code when was found to have lied under oath. This was in relation to the matter involving the Oppenheimer owned Fireblade Aviation terminal at OR Tambo International Airport.

The billionaire family had told the courts that Gigaba had given his approval for the terminal but later reneged. The courts agreed with the family that the former minister had in fact made the commitment and had lied when he said that he had not.

The embattled Gigaba ran out of ways when the Constitutional Court showed him the door in a failed bid to overturn the ruling that he had lied under oath.

Gigaba has also been implicated in the so-called State Capture project. Just yesterday former minister of public enterprises Barbara Hogan told the Zondo Commission into State Capture that he had refused to meet to with her for a handover when he took over from her after being fired by former president Jacob Zuma. Gigaba has also had to account for naturalizing members of the Gupta family during his tenure as home affairs minister.

The former youth league president told City Press two weeks ago that he would under no circumstances resign from his ministerial post. He said he would not allow those with a political campaign against him to win.

Opposition parties have for some time been calling for Ramaphosa to axe Gigaba and Minister of Women in the Presidency Bathabile Dlamini.

The DA went as far as to take the matter to court and argued that the decision by the president to retain the two in his Cabinet was irrational given damning findings made against them by different courts.

The two were retained by Ramaphosa when he reshuffled Cabinet after being elected as president of the country earlier this year when Zuma resigned.

According to the presidency statement, Gigaba said he was tendering his resignation, “for the sake of the country and the movement he belongs to... [also] to relieve the president from undue pressure and allow him to focus on improving the lives of the people of South Africa.”

	S'thembile Cele Journalist City Press p: +27 11 713 9001 w: www.citypress.co.za  e: Sthembile.Cele@citypress.co.za
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