By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
File: Former finance minister Malusi Gigabb and his now enstranged wife Norma Mngoma. (Photo Credit: Gallo Images).
Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has granted Malusi Gigaba leave to cross-examine Norma Mngoma at the state capture commission.
Previously the commission rejected the application of former cabinet minister Gigaba.
Gigaba’s lawyers had cited marital privilege as a reason why communications between the two should not be aired in public as well as the acrimonious nature of the couple’s on-going divorce proceedings.
The former minister’s lawyer Richard Solomons said Mngoma is a reluctant witness as summons have been issued against her to appear before the commission and that her testimony may not be accurate.
The cross-examination will be held before the end of this month,said Zondo.
However Mngoma has completed her testimony at the judicial commission of inquiry into state capture.
She has revealed the extent of her husband’s relationship with the Guptas, saying Ajay Gupta even helped her sister-in-law financially.
Mngoma returned to the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture on Friday morning after her evidence was dramatically cut short on Thursday due to a security threat.
Although proceedings started a little later than 9am, Mngoma wasted no time in laying bare the close relationship her husband shared with the Guptas, specifically Ajay.
She said that when Gigaba’s sister was blacklisted by the credit bureau and had her optometry practice indebted, Ajay gave Gigaba money to bail out his sister. She said Gigaba told her that his sister was in R850 000 debt and his father had asked him to help his sister.
“I asked him: ‘Where are we going to get that kind of money?’ He said he will speak to Ajay and see how he can help.
“About two days later, Malusi visited Ajay and he told me that Ajay can help him, but he can’t give all the money at once. He will give half now.”
She said her sister-in-law eventually moved in with them and soon bagged a job at Gupta-owned computer company, Sahara.
“She found the job difficult because she was employed in a marketing position there but she was a qualified optometrist,” Mngoma said.
She said that a few months later, after she and her sister-in-law got into an argument, her sister-in-law left their home in the middle of the night and drove to KZN. She did not resign from her job at Sahara either.
Mngoma said Gigaba was given bags of cash by Ajay which she saw him packing into their home safe.
Their finances were so good, Mngoma said, that Gigaba had more than 100 suits which he paid for in cash. He gave her a credit card with a R100 000 monthly limit and extended their plush Pretoria home.
Gigaba denied all the allegations. He said the renovations at their house was paid for by his father.
The inquiry continues.
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Video Courtesy of ENCA.