This is why I resigned – Malusi Gigaba

President Cyril Ramaphosa today accepted former home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba’s resignation, which was widely welcomed throughout the nation.

Gigaba has been under immense pressure after the Constitutional Court found he had been lying under oath, and the recent appearance of a video of him pleasuring himself. This came on top of serious allegations of being up to his neck in the state capture project during the presidency of Jacob Zuma, inter alia granting the notorious Gupta brothers and their families early South African citizenship.

He released a statement tonight, explaining in his own words why he left office:

“Earlier today, I handed in my resignation from the position of Minister of Home Affairs to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

“I did so after a long period of sustained and vitriolic public attacks on my integrity. I wish to state that my resignation is not an admission of guilt on my part.

“The integrity and public standing of the Government and the African National Congress of which I am a loyal and proud member is more important than any political office bearer.

“In this regard, I have filed an application for judicial review of the Public Protector’s finding with respect to the Fireblade Aviation matter and also intend to defend all other matters which resulted from my term of office as a member of Cabinet.

“I have been a Deputy Minister from 2004 and a Member of Cabinet since 2010. During this period, I have sought to execute my responsibilities to the best of my abilities. In all the departments to which I was deployed, I was privileged to serve with dedicated and capable colleagues and members of the civil service.

“Accordingly, I wish to thank the ANC and the Presidents who deployed me into all the positions of trust and responsibility. My sincere gratitude also goes to staff and Directors General of all the departments I have had the privilege to lead. In particular, I wish to thank President Ramaphosa for the support and confidence he has shown in me since January this year.

“I wish the President and colleagues in Cabinet success in efforts to save the country from the current economic crisis and our ongoing work to improve the quality of the lives of our people.

“I remain a committed and disciplined member of the ANC and will, in the context of the call #ThumaMina, continue to execute any tasks that the organisation might deem it necessary to instruct me to fulfil.”

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