Why Ramaphosa may opt not to fire Gigaba and Dlamini

D-Day is looming for Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba – and it’s all in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s hands to either apply harsh punishment or a slap on the wrist, thanks to Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane.

It is believed the ANC has given the go-ahead for Ramaphosa to also deal with former minister of social development Bathabile Dlamini, now minister for women.

But some observers said the president may not like to set a precedent.

Political experts noted yesterday that although the majority of South Africans would have liked to see Ramaphosa booting Gigaba from his Cabinet, Mkhwebane did not prescribe Gigaba’s exact punishment, finding only “appropriate” disciplinary action should be taken.

“The president was given a great deal of leverage by the public protector. He has not said he will act in a particular way because she did not say he must fire him [Gigaba] and so she left a great deal of leeway. Therefore the president can decide to ask Gigaba to apologise publicly, he can reprimand him or he can redeploy him elsewhere,” said analyst Ralph Mathekga.

Steven Friedman agreed Mkhwebane gave an open-ended decision and said if Ramaphosa was unhappy with it, he could take it on review.

“But he has to take some sort of action. He can’t do nothing. One thing he cannot escape is that he will face wide criticism for not firing Gigaba,” Friedman said.

“Although people expect a harsh punishment of dismissal, if that doesn’t happen, Ramaphosa could simply say he acted according to the instruction of the public protector.”

Mathekga said the only problem was if Ramaphosa did not act at all, despite the Constitutional Court’s ruling the public protector’s findings are binding.

Mkhwebane has given Ramphosa until Wednesday to act.

Gigaba was found by the High Court in Pretoria to have lied under oath with regards to the application by Fireblade Aviation to operate a terminal at OR Tambo International.

Later, the ConCourt upheld three separate rulings by a full bench of the high court, and the Supreme Court of Appeal, which all found in Fireblade’s favour.

Gigaba denied ever approving the Fireblade application and accused Fireblade’s owners, the Oppenheimer family, of being dishonest.

Dlamini was also found by the highest court to have lied under oath in the South African Social Security Agency grant saga and ordered to pay 20% of the cost of the applicants.

Another minister who lied to the public was former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene. He subsequently resigned when it emerged at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture that he had met the Guptas seven times despite earlier saying he had not. – ericn@citizen.co.za

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