Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Ex-South African Minister Cleared Of Charges In Gupta Family Citizenship Case

Ex-South African Minister Cleared Of Charges In Gupta Family Citizenship Case

The Public Protector, however, said that the minister did not abuse his power while approving early naturalisation to the Gupta family.

A former South African minister was on Monday cleared of multiple allegations that he abused his power while granting early naturalisation to members of the controversial Indian-origin Gupta family.

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane found that former Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba breached the executive ethics code by failing to table names in Parliament of persons who were granted citizenship under exceptional circumstances within the provisions of the South African Citizenship Act.

The Public Protector, however, said that the minister did not abuse his power while approving early naturalisation to the Gupta family.

"I welcome the key finding of the Public Protector's report which clears me of the baseless allegations which were, partly, relied upon to hound me out of Cabinet, in November 2018. I shall not be commenting on the rest of this report until I have consulted with my lawyers," Gigaba,49, tweeted.


Gigaba has been accused at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, set up by President Cyril Ramaphosa, of having received large sums of money from the Guptas during several visits to their palatial former home in Johannesburg.

Gigaba granted the citizenship to Ajay Gupta and other members of the family after recommendations from senior members of his department.

Mkhwebane has recommended that appropriate action be instituted against four of these senior officials, who were involved in the naturalisation of the Gupta family, for their failure to exercise due diligence.

They had recommended to Gigaba that the naturalisation be granted because of the family''s business investments, as well as the large number of jobs they had created for South Africans, among other factors.

"It was established that the verification process ... revealed material misrepresentations and inaccuracies with the information contained in the motivation, relied upon by the former minister, in approving and granting the certificates for naturalisation to Mr Ajay Gupta and family," the Public Protector said in her report.

Originally from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, the Gupta family amassed a fortune in IT, media and mining industries over the past two decades in South Africa, allegedly through their closeness to former president Jacob Zuma, who himself is facing corruption charges.

The bulk of Guptas'' assets in South Africa are expected to be auctioned off to repay creditors as the brothers had fled to Dubai.

The three Gupta brothers - Ajay, Atul and Rajesh - and their families went into self-exile in Dubai after allegations surfaced of their companies illegally siphoning billions of rands from South African parastatal companies through their alleged closeness to former President Zuma.

The South African government has initiated extradition processes for them to return to face a wide range of charges related to alleged corruption after a number of people came forward at the Zondo Commission.

The South African Parliament recommended in March 2019 that the citizenship granted to the Guptas be revoked.

The Public Protector also found that Gigaba misrepresented facts after he said at a media conference in March 2016 that Atul was not a South African citizen. Gigaba corrected this at another media briefing the very next day.

Since Gigaba had resigned from his position in November 2018, Mkhwebane said there would be no purpose in seeking remedial action against him.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
×