Home Affairs Minister taking fresh look at granting Gupta family citizenship

CAPE TOWN - Seven years since Parliament’s Home Affairs committee said it was satisfied the department had not erred in granting citizenship to the notorious Gupta family, new Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber is taking a fresh look.

He’s written to Ajay Gupta's son, Kamal Singhala, to invite him to make representations as to why the citizenship granted to him in 2015 should not be revoked.

Singhala is currently in a battle with the department over a passport for his daughter.

However, Schreiber believes Singhala was issued citizenship prematurely after a first application by the family was rejected.

In 2017, Parliament’s Home Affairs committee heard from the department that it had recommended to then Minister Malusi Gigaba to waive residence requirements for citizenship for members of the Gupta family, in light of multi-million rand investments they were making in the country.

Documents were put before the committee to show the process that had been followed when the family applied for citizenship as a unit.

Schreiber said the department acted too hastily after rejecting the initial application for citizenship, to then consider another application just a few months later, and not only after a year as required by law.

The Democratic Alliance (DA)’s Home Affairs spokesperson, Adrian Roos, has welcomed the move, saying any remaining vestiges of state capture must be addressed.

It’s unclear where Singhala currently resides.

Schreiber said he was serious about a clean-up of his department and if Singhala believes his naturalisation is legitimate, he can present his case to the department in person.