Gigaba says his manbag is too small to fit R10,000 into

Former finance minister Malusi Gigaba at the state capture commission on Monday denied his estranged wife Nomachule ‘Norma’ Gigaba’s claims that they would regularly lunch in Sandton and receive cash in bags afterwards. 

Norma alleged that Gigaba would take cash from a bag that had been given to him by someone at the Gupta residence. She claimed she saw cash in the boot, and Gigaba taking the cash out. 

“She never saw this bag,” Gigaba responded. 

“That’s why in her own affidavit she shows one of the small manbags.”

According to Gigaba, Norma googled a picture of a small manbag as reference. 

Gigaba’s own manbag is still in his possession. 

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“I still have it in my car. I put everything I carry in there, cellphone, hand sanitiser, hand lotion, so I don’t put them in my pocket.

“There is an ulterior motive to portray me in a particular light. She has to fabricate this story so carefully it doesn’t implicate her.

“How much money would I carry in this bag? R2,000? R10,000? I was a minister earning an income and you could [carry cash] for some reasons, including paying for the parking tickets and stuff like that, withdraw money and carry cash in your bag.” 

Gigaba said he believed Norma was being coached in sticking to the affidavit she submitted, and said she told him she was under pressure by “certain people” in government, state security and business to “depose an affidavit to surrender me” and “destroy me politically”, for a financial reward. 

However, Gigaba said Norma told him she would decline the offer, to put her family first. 

“The reason she never saw the money being given to me is because there was no such money. How would this money have arrived at my car unless Normal or Witness 3 put it there? I certainly would not need company to go collect money.” 

He said his purse “can’t even fit R10,000″.

“It’s just a small purse that can carry at most R5,000. My handbag can’t even fit R10,000. Perhaps at most R5,000.”