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Newsdeck

DA goes to court to challenge Ramaphosa’s reappointment of Gigaba, Dlamini

Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba in parliament on 22 August 2018. Photo: Leila Dougan

President Cyril Ramaphosa's reappointment of Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba and Minister in the Presidency Bathabile Dlamini is expected to come under the spotlight, after reliable sources revealed to News24 that the Democratic Alliance (DA) intends to take the issue to court.

When asked if the DA was indeed intending to approach the court, DA federal executive chairperson James Selfe said: “Yes. I can confirm that.” He did not provide any further details.

The DA is expected to argue that their reappointment was irrational, based on information in the public domain that allegedly implicated them in mismanagement and state capture.

News24 understands that DA leader Mmusi Maimane will publicly announce the party’s latest court action after a meeting of the DA’s federal council over the weekend.

Gigaba and Dlamini survived Ramaphosa’s first Cabinet reshuffle on February 26 – 11 days after he had been sworn in as president.

Last month, the Constitutional Court found that Dlamini had tried to mislead the court in the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) debacle.

Bathabile Dlamini was ‘evasive’

The court asked the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to consider whether Dlamini should be prosecuted for lying under oath during her testimony at Judge Bernard Ngoepe’s Sassa inquiry.

The inquiry was set up to establish whether Dlamini should be held personally liable for the costs incurred during the court case over the social grants crisis. Dlamini was the social development minister at the time.

Ngoepe found that Dlamini was evasive and “unjustifiably” told the commission she did not know or could not remember the answers to “important questions”.

Maimane also wrote to Ramaphosa to ask him to fire Dlamini and Gigaba from his Cabinet.

In his letter to Ramaphosa, Maimane referred to the High Court’s finding in 2017, in relation to former president Jacob Zuma’s firing of Pravin Gordhan as finance minister, that constitutional decisions must be rational, including the appointment of ministers.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) found that Gigaba had lied to the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

Gigaba deliberately ‘told untruths’

In December 2017, the court found that Gigaba had “deliberately told untruths under oath”.

The judgment followed a court battle launched by Fireblade Aviation, owned by the wealthy Oppenheimer family, in November 2016 against the Department of Home Affairs and others.

The SCA upheld this decision.

The DA has on numerous occasions challenged Zuma in court on presidential appointments.

The party previously challenged Zuma in court for his decision to replace then-finance minister Gordhan with Gigaba in March 2017.

They have also challenged Zuma in his corruption case, which is currently before the KwaZulu-Natal High Court. DM

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