Norma Mngoma’s state capture testimony on Malusi Gigaba set for Tuesday

Norma Mngoma, the wife of former Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba, outside court after charges against her were withdrawn. Picture: Thobile Mathonsi/African News Agency (ANA)

Norma Mngoma, the wife of former Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba, outside court after charges against her were withdrawn. Picture: Thobile Mathonsi/African News Agency (ANA)

Published Apr 11, 2021

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Johannesburg - The testimony of Norma Mngoma, estranged former wife of cabinet minister Malusi Gigaba, at the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture is set to take place on Tuesday following its postponement.

Mngoma had been pencilled in to testify before commission chairperson Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo on Friday but had to be pushed back to Tuesday. Gigaba was also expected to apply to cross-examine Mngoma and that her evidence be heard in camera.

These matters will be dealt with on the Tuesday sitting of the commission.

The commission said that Mngoma’s testimony had to be shifted to Tuesday after the testimony of former state security minister David Mahlobo had taken all day and into the early part of the evening.

The couple’s showdown at the commission was hugely anticipated, with Gigaba having sought to cross examine his estranged wife and wanted the commission not to make her evidence public but Gigaba’s lawyers did not go ahead with the application to cross examine Mngoma as they were not present.

In a tell-all television interview with pay TV news channel eNCA last December following the couple’s break up, Mngoma spilled the beans on Gigaba about several alleged rendezvous at the Guptas’ Saxonwold compound from which he would allegedly return with bags stuffed with cash.

Mngoma said that in exchange for her husband doing favours for the controversial business family, Gigaba would be showered with gifts and cash by the Guptas and that this had been particularly prevalent during his tenure as public enterprises minister.

Among other favours granted to the couple, as listed by Mngoma at the time, were the funding of the couple’s lavish August 2014 wedding at Durban’s Botanical Gardens, their honeymoon and renovations to one of their properties.

“We would visit and sometimes we get gifts, I didn't know what for. They used to give him a lot of money and he would say I do favours for the Guptas,” said Mngoma.

In another dramatic episode between the couple, Mngoma was arrested by the Hawks in July 2020 at the couple’s Waterkloof home on malicious damage to property and crimen injuria charges and spent a weekend behind bars for allegedly damaging a luxury vehicle owned by a friend of her husband’s.

However, in February Pretoria High Court Judge Cassin Sardiwalla ruled that Mngoma’s arrest had been unlawful and constituted an abuse of power by her husband and the Hawks while the charges against Mngoma were last month withdrawn by the Hawks.

Political Bureau