Current and former home affairs ministers expected to testify at Gupta naturalisation hearing

Source: Times live, 14/08/2018

Former ministers â€` as well as the incumbent minister of home affairs -
have been identified as possible witnesses to be called to appear
before a parliamentary committee probing the naturalisation of the
Guptas as South Africans.
According to a draft report presented to the home affairs oversight
committee on Tuesday‚ former home affairs minister Mangosuthu
Buthelezi‚ who served in that portfolio between 1994 and 2004‚ has
been identified as one of the prominent people who could provide more
answers on how two of the Gupta brothers became naturalised citizens.
The home affairs committee`s draft report has flagged Buthelezi`s
successors Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula‚ who was the political head of the
department between 2004 and 2009‚ as one of the top people that could
be called to testify.
Current home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba‚ currently in a second
stint in the portfolio following a brief term between 2014 and 2017‚
was also targeted as a witness.
Senior ANC MP Hlomane Chauke‚ who is also chairperson of the home
affairs committee‚ said they were due to meet again on Wednesday
morning to finalise the list of potential witnesses and the issues to
probe further after receiving the draft report from parliamentary
researchers and lawyers.
The committee wants answers in relation to the permits used by Atul
and Rajesh Gupta `initially [to] enter South Africa between 1994 and
1998”.
Atul and Rajesh were issued with naturalisation certificates in 2002
and 2006 respectively.
Former senior officials of the department‚ Richard Sikakane and
Siyamthanda Skota‚ are also likely to be called to testify - while
Gupta business associates Ashu Chwala and Nazeem Howa are also on the
radar.
The committee wants government officials to answer questions ranging
from the permits used by the Guptas and their family members to first
enter South Africa in 1993‚ alleged irregularities in how they
obtained permanent residence statuses‚ supporting documents backing
claims of investment to the tune of R25-billion‚ and why their
applications were `prioritised faster than other such naturalisation
applications”.
The committee`s report also found that while the Guptas claimed in the
motivations for naturalisation that they were making `social
investments` and donations to schools in the North West province‚ some
of the schools contacted by parliamentary researchers `indicated they
never received a donation from Oakbay Group” ‚ a Gupta-owned company.
Of the 76 schools listed as having received the donations from Oakbay‚
only 11 bothered to respond to queries from parliament - with six
confirming the receipt while the balance denied receiving anything.
Those that acknowledged the `social investments` listed‚ among other
things‚ R1‚000 in prize monies that were paid to leaners who took part
in competitions related to invitations to the Gupta wedding.
Other schools received soccer cones‚ hula hoops‚ soccer balls‚ rugby
balls‚ soccer shirts and shin guards.
The report stated that during a parliamentary inquiry in May this
year‚ some officials from home affairs visited several schools to
collect information related to the donations.