Former Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba will return to the State Capture Inquiry on Friday to face a gruelling session on evidence related to Transient.
Watch live: Malusi Gigaba returns to State Capture Inquiry
The estranged husband of Norma Mngoma has done away with the gob-smacking claims made by his divorcee-to-be in her blockbuster testimony.
On Friday, Gigaba will be poised to defend his reputation when the inquiry’s evidence leaders pile through allegations that he may have been central to the financial destruction of South Africa’s railway parastatal.
The commission is set to kick off the day’s proceedings at 09:30. You can tune into the live stream below:
Transnet allegations Gigaba will be questioned on
When Mngoma appeared before the commission, she did more than merely place Gigaba as a reoccurring Saxonworld guest. Whether she knows it or not, the former minister’s estranged wife carved a new path for the commission to explore when she alleged that Gigaba’s personal relationship with ex-Transnet CEO Siyabonga Gama held a great influence in the way things were run at the railway authority.
You will remember that Mngoma revealed that Gigaba’s sister, Gugu, was allegedly flung into a senior position at the state parastatal at the former Home Affairs Minster’s request.
“To my knowledge, Ms Gugu Gigaba was appointed and remains in the employ of Transnet,” Mngoma had told the commission.
In the inquiry’s possession are email threads that paint a very interesting timeline of events that may have transpired between April 2015 and February 2017.
There is material evidence which proves that in April 2015, Gugu had sent Gigaba a copy of her CV. Two months later, Gigaba would contact Transnet Freight COO Mlamuli Buthelezi about “the issue we had talked about.”
There is a blank space between this period and months later, in February 2017 when Gugu was officially appointed at Transnet for a position that was never advertised.
Gama, at his State Capture appearance, denied all knowledge of this alleged nepotism supposedly orchestrated by Gigaba.
The former minister will have to do a lot more than claim convenient amnesia when he is grilled on his part in this scandal.
