Gigaba spoke ‘erroneously’ when he said Atul Gupta was not a South African citizen

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has confirmed that Atul Gupta is registered to vote at Saxonwold Primary School.

Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, claimed that neither of the Guptas was granted South African citizenship. During a press briefing on 6 March, Gigaba said they were not granted citizenship because they did not want to renounce their Indian citizenship.

“Mr Atul Gupta also is not [a person who was granted citizenship] but he was not one of the five [Gupta family members] who had applied for citizenship,” claimed Gigaba. He added that this was the reason why Atul’s citizenship of South Africa was non-existent.

However, the IEC’s chairperson, Terry Tselane said for a person to be registered to vote they needed to be a citizen of the country.

“I can confirm that a certain Mr Atul Gupta is a registered voter and is properly registered in Saxonwold,” said Tselane.

The IEC’s chief electoral officer, Sy Mamabolo, further emphasised that the IEC did confirm citizenship against the national population register to ensure that a person was, in fact, a citizen before they could register to vote.

In an about turn, the director general of Home Affairs, Mkuseli Apleni said Gigaba had made an error when he said Atul Gupta was not naturalised. Apleni said that Atul had, in fact, been naturalised in 2002 and was granted citizenship before Gigaba was the Minister of Home Affairs.

Apleni further emphasised that Ajay Gupta, who is currently a fugitive, is not a citizen and does not appear on the voters roll.

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