Parliament to grill Gigaba over Gupta family naturalisation

The portfolio committee on home affairs has invited Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba to give clarity on the Gupta family naturalisation debacle.

The family was granted naturalisation while he was the minister of home affairs.

On Tuesday the committee released a statement and welcomed clarifications made by the current minister of home affairs, Prof Hlengiwe Mkhize, on the issue relating to the processes leading to the naturalisation application by the Gupta family.

“The Minister was asked to brief the Committee on whether the law was followed in granting naturalisation to the family. This meeting was scheduled as per the instruction of the House Chairperson of Committees issued on 19 June 2017 to investigate alleged state capture emails.

“The Committee acknowledges that according to the current Minister, the law was followed in relation to the handling of the application. Despite this assurance, the Committee awaits information on steps undertaken to remedy the lapses in administrative function around the application,” it said.

The committee said that, in its attempt to bring the matter to finality, it had invited Gigaba to appear in parliament on Friday.

“The Committee has invited the Minister of Finance, Mr Malusi Gigaba, to appear and bring the Committee into confidence on his thought process leading to granting naturalisation.”

It also urged the department to provide all information necessary to the auditor-general, who is conducting an investigation in the process followed.