South African Home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba handed in his resignation letter on Tuesday after a tape containing material of ‘’sexual nature’’ made rounds in political circles.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, on Tuesday 13 November 2018, received a letter of resignation from the minister of Home Affairs, Mr Malusi Knowledge Nkanyezi Gigaba.
A statement from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Office announced that Gigaba said he had resigned “to relieve the president from undue pressure’’ and to allow the President to focus on saving the country from “economic meltdown.”
The president has accepted the minister’s resignation and expressed his appreciation for minister Gigaba longstanding service to the government and people of south Africa.
The Minister went on to say that his phone was hacked to get the video, and that he became aware of this before his appointment as finance minister in march, 2017. The video has been used in blackmail and extortion attempts against him since then.
Gigaba 47, a close ally of ousted former president Jacob zuma, had recently vowed not to step down after being caught up in a leaked sex tape scandal and stated that the contents were only meant to be viewed by his wife and himself but he later succumbed to the pressure and stepped down.
Mr Gigaba was appointed as deputy minister of home affairs in 2004 and subsequently served as minister of public enterprises, minister of finance and – for two intervals- as minister of home affairs.
He served as finance minister for a year under Zuma, who was ousted as president in February over mounting graft scandals.
South Africa’s economy is in recession, while unemployment is at a record high of near 28 per cent.