Gigaba says he won’t interfere in Gupta court case

New Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba has said that he does not have any immediate intentions of dropping the case against the Guptas regarding South Africa’s banks not wanting them as clients.

However, he added that he had only been in the job for a day.

He was speaking at his first official press conference in Pretoria after being sworn in as the finance minister on Friday evening.

Gigaba’s predecessor, Pravin Gordhan, joined the banks’ application to rule that members of the executive cannot interfere in who private banks do or don’t take on as clients.

President Jacob Zuma has openly opposed the decision by the banks not to work with his friends, the Guptas. It’s understood that the banks have concerns around the legality of the Guptas’ business transactions. They were probably also motivated to drop them as clients due to a constant stream of bad publicity related to allegations of so-called state capture.

“The court case against Oakbay [the Guptas’ primary company] is not going to be withdrawn.” He said, though, that he had still not been briefed and could not yet form “fully informed opinions on a whole range of issues”, although he had been following the matter as a member of the executive and was familiar with it.

However, he said that issues before the courts would have to be resolved before those courts, and he would not change pleas that had already been entered.

Gigaba also responded to the allegations that he may be receiving money from a source outside government. EFF leader Julius Malema had said on Friday that Gigaba was the recipient of cash and a house in Cape Town from the Guptas.

“The only income you will find in my bank account is the income I earn out of working in government. So there is no other income.

“I need to add I bought a house last year in Centurion. Someone is renting that. I’ve declared that income. Therefore there is nothing I have hidden in that regard.”

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