The Gupta family’s South African citizenship was initially denied, but quickly pushed through by then-minister of home affairs, Malusi Gigaba, the EFF has claimed.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued on Monday, the EFF said that is has received reliable information that Gigaba unduly granted the Gupta family South African citizenship.<\/p>\n
The party said it was in possession of a letter dated 22 January 2015, from Mr. GG Hlatshwayo on behalf of the Director General, in which he “correctly” denied the Gupta’s South African citizenship stating that they “did not comply with the requirement in terms of section 5(1)(b) of the South African Act 2010.”<\/p>\n
The letter indicated that the Guptas “did not have 5 years of physical residence in the Republic of South Africa”, the EFF said.<\/p>\n
However, a few months later, in another letter, Gigaba, who was minister of home affairs at the time, granted the family what he terms “early naturalisation”.<\/p>\n
According to the EFF, in the letter, Gigaba states that “after careful consideration of the matter, I have decided by the powers vested in me under section 5(9)(a) of the South African Citizenship Amendment Act, 2010 (Act no 17 of 2010), to wave the residential requirements in regards to your application for naturalisation and grant you early naturalisation”.<\/p>\n
Here the Act states that “the minister may under exceptional circumstances grant a certificate of naturalisation as South African citizen to an applicant who does not comply with the requirements of [the said] subsection relating to residence or ordinary residence in the Republic”.<\/p>\n
“Gigaba has effectively used this clause to make favours to his friends the Gupta family in a situation where there are absolutely no exceptional circumstances to bypass the law,” the EFF said.<\/p>\n
“The only exceptional thing enjoyed by the Gupta family is a close relationship with Gigaba. All other ordinary South Africans have to be patient with the law in cases of their foreign spouses who have been resident, uninterruptedly for more than decades.”<\/p>\n
The party said it would seek legal council on how to proceed.<\/p>\n
The EFF last week laid criminal charges against Gigaba and other officials, alleging that they allowed the Gupta family to score Transnet contracts, and inflate the costs to score profits.<\/p>\n