Letters showing Gigaba fast-tracked Guptas' SA citizenship a 'smoking gun'

EWN senior reporter Stephen Grootes dissects the latest papers showing how the Gupta family secured naturalised citizenship in SA.

Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba has a lot of questions to answer following the publishing of more documents incriminating him in state capture allegations, says EWN's Stephen Grootes.

Gigaba earlier postponed a press conference expected to highlight the way forward for the South Africa's economy in light of the latest downgrade by ratings agency Moody’s.

Read: Gigaba press conference called off

At the same time, the EFF has published two letters which reveal the former Home Affairs Minister granted the Gupta family naturalised citizenship in South Africa.

The official letters from the department show the Gupta family was first denied citizenship before Gigaba stepped in to give the green light.

The achitect of Gupta corruption Mr Malusi Gigaba has unduly granted them South African citizenship. Read for yourself: pic.twitter.com/EZ8MJEHRYh

— Julius Sello Malema (@Julius_S_Malema) June 12, 2017

The EFF will approach the courts to challenge Gigaba’s decision to unduly grant the Guptas citizenship.

Grootes says that the Finance Ministry should not have cancelled the press briefing at such a critical time.

Also read: Gigaba needs credible team before convincing business and labour - economists

That is a very big smoking gun in many ways... The first or second question in the press conference would have been all about the Guptas... never mind the difficulties in the economy.

Stephen Grootes, senior EWN reporter

What the Gupta emails show us is that Gigaba's action were the start of a process that saw the Gupta family benefiting hugely from tenders.

Stephen Grootes, senior EWN reporter

When you look at all of the things around Malusi Gigaba at the moment, the number of questions he has to face are very difficult - and that's before we even look at Twitter!

Stephen Grootes, senior EWN reporter

Earlier this month, leaked Gupta emails revealed how immigration officials at SA's High Commission in New Delhi allegedly helped fast-track work permits for Indian employees at Gupta-owned TV broadcaster ANN7.

Take a listen to Stephen Grootes' analysis on Gupta citizenship and other stories: