Ramaphosa says ruling on `lying` Gigaba of great concern

Source: The Citizen, 04/04/2018

President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed concern at a recent court
ruling that found Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba violated the
Constitution by lying under oath.
The High Court in Pretoria found that Gigaba’s assertion that he had
never given approval to the Oppenheimers’ Fireblade Aviation to
establish a VIP facility at OR Tambo International Airport during a
meeting in January 2016 was false.
Fireblade Aviation had sued Gigaba for allegedly going back on his
undertaking to make officials available to Fireblade to staff its
customs and immigration facility. Gigaba denied that he had approved
the terminal, but the court found against him. The court stated that
Gigaba had violated the Constitution and denied him the right to
appeal.
`The minister has committed a breach of the Constitution so serious
that I could characterise it as a violation,` Judge Neil Tuchten said.
The Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed Gigaba’s application to appeal
the high-court ruling.
Opposition parties have called on the president to sack Gigaba
following the court ruling. In February, the DA laid a formal
complaint with Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane requesting her to
further investigate Gigaba following the high court ruling. In a
written response on Tuesday to a question from Congress of the People
leader Mosiuoa Lekota, Ramaphosa said the court ruling was of `great
concern and needs to be given serious attention`.
`The judgment handed down in the Pretoria high court in the matter of
Fireblade Aviation [versus] minister of home affairs contains
statements about the minister of home affairs that are of great
concern and need to be given serious attention. I am therefore giving
the matter due and proper consideration,` said Ramaphosa.
In February, Gigaba maintained that there had been no agreement with
the Oppenheimers. `At no stage was there an agreement with Fireblade.
Legally you cannot have a private terminal for a family,` said
Gigaba, who was recently moved back to home affairs from the finance
portfolio.
In a recent blog post, constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos said
it goes without saying that court findings constitute an extremely
serious indictment of Gigaba.
`As things stand, it is a proven fact that Minister Gigaba
deliberately attempted to mislead the court, that he is therefore
dishonest and â€` by implication â€` that one could not trust anything he
says.
`If one is prepared to lie to the court in the face of overwhelming
evidence refuting your lie, who would you not lie to?`