GIGABA, A NO SHOW IN PARLIAMENT

This article is about Gigaba who did not show up to Parliament's oral question session with the MPs.
This ignited a lot of commotion in the house as the members slammed his non-appearance.

The Home Affairs Minster's absece from the National Assembly to answer questions on the citizenship status of the controversial Gupta family on Wednesday drew the ire of opposition parties who accused him of being a "pathological liar"

Speaker Baleka Mbete read out a letter from Gigaba's office saying that he had to "rush to the doctor" and could therefore not attend the question-and-answer session for ministers who are part of the peace and security cluster.

On Tuesday Gigaba said thatIGupta, two of the three indian-born brothers alleged to have made billions of randa off state contracts secured as a result of being close friends and benefactors of former president Jacob Zuma and his family, were grated South African citizenship.

On Wednesday, the Electoral Commision of SA (IEC) on Wednesday confirmed that Atul Gupta was registered to vote in the country- meaning he had a South African ID number and was indeed a citizen.

As soon as opposition MPs realized Gigaba was not in the chamber during question time they started shouting "Where's the liar?"
Gigaba has been under pressure lately as the home affairs portfolio committee questioned him on Tuesday on the naturalization of the controversial Gupta family, while the committee probing the alleged capture of Eskom also wants him to appear before it.

DA MP Haniff Hoosen had wanted Gigaba to explain to Parliament how many foreigners had been granted South Africa citizenship since April 2017, but the Q&A session with ministers in the Cabinet's peace and security cluster degenerated owing to Gigaba's non appearance.

"We respectfully would like to check with you if Minister Malusi Gigaba has actually given reasons for his absence today, because he goes around lying to SA, now he's avoiding Parliament. That's the motivation of the question- has he possibly lied to you about his absence?" said EFF MP Mbuyiseni  Ndlozi.

Speaker Baleke Mbete told MPs earlier that she was not aware of Gigaba's whereabouts saying, "I share the concer, but I can't actually produce the minister right now."

Mbete then read a letter from Gigaba's office which explained that the Minister had been booked off due to ill-health. "It's siged by the chief of staff of the Ministry of Home Affairs. It goes ' I hereby tender an apology on behalf of Minister Gigaba...who will be uable to attend the plenary today, March 7 2018. He is not feeling well; the minister could not sign the letter because he had to rush to the doctor', Mbete read.

The Speaker then ruled that questions initially directed at Gigaba would be held at the next Q&A session.

What do you guys think about Gigaba not showing up? Let me know.



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