But five months earlier the then director-general of Home Affairs‚ GG Hlatshwayo‚ had written to the family refusing their application on the grounds that they had not lived in South Africa for the required five years.
Gigaba said on Tuesday‚ in a statement issued by the Treasury‚ that he had lawfully approved the application in terms of South African legislation and added that the granting of “naturalisation certificates of this nature is not unusual”.
“The application was handled in line with the procedure that requires that the Department of Home Affairs submits recommendations to the Minister for consideration‚” said the statement.
“The granting of naturalisation certificates of this nature is not unusual. Similar courtesies have been extended to prominent businessmen‚ including executives of multi-nationals‚ and sports people. There is no impropriety on the part of the Minister in relation to how the application in question has been handled.”