Johannesburg - The Department of Home Affairs immigration services returned to Gupta-linked ANN7 television studios on Tuesday, arresting four people for allegedly being in the country illegally.
Last month, immigration officials pounced on the premises after receiving a tip-off that some of the staffers from India did not have proper documentation.
On Tuesday, a source said immigration officers questioned staffers and then later left the premises with four people, a woman and three men.
"Jimmy Manyi tried to intervene but to no avail. He was left hapless as officials went about their business,'' said the source.
Manyi's company Lodidox Management bought Gupta's media interests, The New Age newspaper and ANN7. The television channel was bought for R300 million and The New Age for R150 million last year through vendor financing.
The former government spokesman is under pressure after Multichoice announced it would not renew its contract with ANN7 on its Dstv platform come August.
The controversial Gupta family, who are at the centre of state capture allegations, have since been labelled fugitives by South African law enforcement authorities, along with former president Jacob Zum's son Duduzane.
They have since fled the country as the net closes around their associates and those accused of corruption linked to state capture. The state capture allegations came to light after the leaking of thousands of emails obtained from the family's computer servers.
The arrest of ANN7 staffers came after Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba, told reporters in Parliament on Tuesday that Ajay and Atul Gupta were not South African citizens because they refused to renounce their Indian citizenship.
This, despite leaked documents showing Gigaba's intervention in 2013 and granting the naturalisation of the controversial family.
The department of home affairs were not immediately available for comment.