Former home affairs spokesperson defends Gigaba ignoring a legal opinion

Former home affairs spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete was not able to stop himself on Wednesday from continuing to comment on the affairs of home affairs.

An exclusive article on News24 had earlier revealed that Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba acted against legal advice from nearly six months ago that called for him to challenge the citizenship of certain members of the Gupta family. It also reportedly wanted him to “investigate three specific individuals who are still conducting the family’s affairs in this country”.

The legal opinion was formulated by senior advocate Nazeer Cassim and two juniors.

It was based primarily on the fact that the Guptas, in order to justify their request for citizenship, had allegedly not only exaggerated the “large resources” they possessed to “inject into the South African economy”, they had “in hindsight … misappropriated and/or abused South African resources to propel their own cause, including obtaining South African citizenship”, according to Cassim.

Gigaba’s new spokesperson, Thabo Mokgola, told News24 they had received the legal opinion at the start of May, but after consultation with the security cluster, had decided to rather let all criminal investigations be finalised before taking any action as home affairs.

This went directly against the legal opinion, which was also scathing of the alleged difficulty the legal team had experienced in obtaining a copy of Ajay Gupta’s arrest warrant.

Tshwete weighed in on the report on Wednesday by saying the justice department had not only advised against accepting and acting on the legal opinion, it had pointed out that it would turn into a costly case to wage against the Guptas.

“This not my business but Justice Dept advised against that legal opinion & advised DHA revoking would be costly for case against them,” he said.

https://twitter.com/MTshwete/status/1052528534298796033

He also pointed out that revoking their citizenship while they were facing criminal charges could possibly have undermined the cases against the Guptas.

“Think about it, you want them to come back but you revoke their citizenship while they are abroad.”

https://twitter.com/MTshwete/status/1052531698263621632

Not everyone agreed with Tshwete, however.

You don’t need them to be citizens for them to come and account for their criminal actions. The only thing you may need is the cooperation of the States where they presently reside.

— TaBheks (@Mabheka9Phantsi) October 17, 2018

https://twitter.com/rinmor/status/1052531961204547584

Tshwete resigned and left the home affairs department at the end of June.

(Compiled by Charles Cilliers)

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