Parliament - Speaker Baleka Mbete has received a letter from President Cyril Ramaphosa on the public protector's findings against former home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba, Parliament said on Thursday, but his resignation as an MP will prevent any action by the legislature.
"The president informed the National Assembly of the former minister’s resignation from the cabinet," parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said.
"The speaker has referred both the letter of the president and the report of the public protector to the joint committee on ethics and members’ interests, for consideration and report, and to the portfolio committee on home affairs for information."
Gigaba resigned from Cabinet on Tuesday, after a torrid few weeks in which he faced both the chapter nine institution's adverse findings and the leak of a home video showing him performing a sexual act alone.
Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane had asked Ramaphosa to take action against him for violating the executive ethics code, as well as the code of ethical conduct and disclosure of members' interest for assembly and council members by lying in court in the Fireblade case.
The speaker's office received his resignation as an MP on Thursday morning.
This means Parliament is not expected to take any further action against Gigaba because the code only applies to MPs.
ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu confirmed Gigaba's resignation as an MP and said it had taken effect on Wednesday. He commended Gigaba for putting the party's interests before his own.
“We appreciate the fact that comrade Gigaba has put the interests of the ANC and that of the country first, which has informed his line of action. This is what we expect from any cadre of our glorious movement, of which comrade Gigaba has remained true to,” Mthembu said.
"We wish him well in his future endeavours."
Democratic Alliance chief whip John Steenhuisen said Gigaba's resignation was designed to escape accountability and likened it to that of former deputy minister of higher education Mduduzi Manana.
"Gigaba’s eleventh-hour resignation is taken straight from the playbook of disgraced former deputy minister and convicted abuser, Mduduzi Manana, who resigned in July also to avoid going before Parliament’s joint committee on ethics and members' Interests and to safeguard his benefits," Steenhuisen said.
We are treated to a repeat of an ANC classic. Yet again a senior member of the ANC has avoided accountability by resigning once the writing was clearly on the wall. Yet again ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa has been spared the task of taking an errand minister and long-serving ANC lieutenant to task."