Gigaba holds Twitter Q&A to address state capture allegations

After damning allegations claiming that Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba was “very popular” with the Gupta family, he decided to confront this by opening the floor to his Twitter followers on Saturday night. The only disclaimer was that he would not tolerate “arbitrary and speculative insults”.

The second phase of the parliamentary portfolio committee on home affairs’ investigation into the naturalisation process of the Gupta family earlier this month saw Gigaba being accused of using information gleaned from the #GuptaLeaks e-mails. This according to the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse’s (Outa’s) Rudie Heyneke’s testimony, in which Heyneke said that Gigaba had been “very popular” with the Gupta family.

“He received invitations from the time when he was still the deputy minister of home affairs,” Heyneke said, referring to invitations from the Guptas for Diwali, World Cup soccer, dinners, the Sun City wedding and the Gupta-run South African of the Year awards ceremony.

Considering this, Twitter did not hold back, asking questions the minister responded to. These responses, however, at times lacked the in-depth answers he had alluded to being willing to provide.

Other answers, however, were a bit more detailed.

Some responses were notably more mysterious than others, but Gigaba managed to respond to an impressive number of questions and comments.

Former ANC member of parliament Vytjie Mentor said in her testimony before Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo in August that Gigaba assisted in the abolition of the Johannesburg-Mumbai flight route. This move was to be part of a turnaround strategy for SAA, which was not to be.

“I asked him how will all the people who travel to and from India and everyday cargo be transported … he said they [the Guptas] had a good relationship with Jet Airways who will ensure that the flight route continues. Hogan was then fired and replaced by [now Home Affairs Minister Malusi] Gigaba … and immediately after that, SAA stopped flying to India and Jet Airways took over the route.”

Gigaba is also alleged to have facilitated the swift visa approval of Gupta-owned company employees and associates, according to an email trail obtained by amaBhungane and the Daily Maverick.

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