Home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba will take on South Africa’s richest family as the\u00a0court case over OR Tambo’s exclusive seven-star “Fireblade”\u00a0airport terminal heats up.<\/p>\n
The privately held terminal – owned by the wealthy Oppenheimer family – has been running at a multi-million rand loss\u00a0due to its international operations being blocked by the department of home affairs.<\/p>\n
The Oppenheimers took the fight to court in late 2016, serving court papers on Gigaba, accusing the Gupta family of using its influence in government<\/a><\/strong> to impede the terminal’s operations, with the aim of ultimately controlling it themselves.<\/p>\n According to the Oppenheimers\u00a0– citing ‘former Gupta pilots’ who had come forward with information – the plan was to keep the terminal running at a loss, forcing the family to sell it. The Guptas would then step in as willing buyers.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Fireblade<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>terminal has\u00a0faced losses of over R163-million in the previous financial year, as it needs international flights to turn a profit.<\/p>\n The terminal is leased from state-owned arms group, Denel, which indirectly has business dealings with the Guptas through various companies and associates. The Oppenheimers claim that the Gupta family is using its influence over Denel to pressure Gigaba to block operations.<\/p>\n In court papers served on Gigaba in 2016, the Oppenheimer family said it had received approval for an international terminal from 27 state entities – with the department of home affairs now being the only opponent left blocking the way.<\/p>\n Gigaba taking on the billionaires<\/strong><\/p>\n Gigaba is expected\u00a0to take the Oppenheimer family\u00a0on in their court challenge, answering to claims that he helped the Gupta family scupper the Oppenheimer’s plans for Fireblade.<\/p>\n Gigaba’s answering affidavit on the matter is also expected to detail how allowing the\u00a0Oppenheimers to have VIP access to the country\u00a0would be\u00a0“unethical” and \u201cirrational\u201d.<\/p>\n He\u00a0will file papers on Friday (20 January) explaining why the department of Home Affairs is against making the Fireblade terminal international – including setting a precedent that shows that points of entry cannot be bought, and that such points are for all South Africans, not just the wealthy.<\/p>\n