Malusi Gigaba laments state’s refusal to pay R1m for his lawyers to prep for Zondo

Former home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba says he will appear before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, to “help him separate fact from fiction”.

Gigaba’s name has been mentioned by witnesses at the commission, with allegations by Witness 3, whose name was withheld for security reasons, that bags full of cash, secret visits to the Gupta family mansion in Saxonwold, and to the family’s business, Sahara, were normal occurrences for him when he was a government minister.

His estranged wife, Norma Mngoma, has also volunteered to appear before the commission to confirm under oath that her husband did receive bags of cash.

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“I’m a South African citizen so I will go [to the Zondo commission]… I will say my part. Like, he knows, I’m a very honest person, so I will say what I know. If I don’t know something, I don’t know it.

“I know he’s that kind of a person, even [if] he knows something, he always says, ‘I don’t recall, I don’t recall’, so if I recall, I will remind him,” said Mngoma in a tell-all interview with eNCA last year.

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Now Gigaba says Zondo has summoned him to appear before the commission from 8 March to 12 March, “presumably to help him separate fact from fiction”.

“And the state I was serving, the state which is spending R1 billion on his commission, is refusing to pay the R1 million my lawyers need in order to help me prepare for my appearance. I’ll, however, be appearing before His Lordship. This notwithstanding. Even if it costs me my home,” tweeted Gigaba on Thursday.

‘I did nothing unlawful’

Gigaba has denied any wrongdoing even after being implicated a number of times at the commission.

In August last year, following another testimony that implicated him, Gigaba said he had instructed his legal representatives to apply for leave to cross-examine Witness 3.

“Witness 3 made spurious allegations against me. I strongly deny any suggestions or insinuation that there is anything unlawful that I did.

“I am in the process of preparing an affidavit in response to the allegations of Witness 3 and have also instructed my legal representatives to simultaneously apply to the chairperson of the commission for leave to cross examine Witness 3,” said Gigaba at the time.

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But this has not happened yet, and Gigaba blames the commission’s secretary.

“His secretariat has, so far, ignored my requests to cross-examine those who’ve told unsubstantiated fabrications and self-serving distortions about me,” he said.

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