Ministerial spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete says next week Mentor will probably say Gigaba is an ‘extraterrestrial’.


In the wake of the media storm that followed EFF allegations that former home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba irregularly awarded Gupta family members ‘early naturalisation’ certificates, former ANC MP and serial social-media-explosive-files-dropper Vytjie Mentor has taken to her preferred hunting ground, Facebook, to question Gigaba’s birth and origin.

The volley of Facebook posts were published over a 24-hour period.

Gigaba’s ministerial spokesperson, Mayihlome Tshwete, told The Citizen that Mentor should not continue being quoted as a credible source, as she had previously said the minister signed the nuclear deal before he was even appointed as finance minister, and this turned out to be factually incorrect.

“This is a clear example of absurdity and the ludicrous nature of allegations levelled at the minister in a clumsy and orchestrated campaign that does not care about facts and is aimed at discrediting the minister,” Tshwete said.

Tshwete also told The Citizen it was “irresponsible of a former member of parliament to make comments that fuel xenophobia and expose her ignorance”.

“Next week she will say the minister is an extraterrestrial being.”

According to Mentor, the finance minister’s original surname is Gigamba, not Gigaba as known.

In another post, she refers to Gigaba as “our Zimbabwean minister”.

She also informed her social media followers the former ANC Youth League leader “is not a South African”.

Mentor challenged her followers to provide proof of Gigaba being capable of speaking isiZulu for more than an hour.

She alleged his “umbilical cord was not buried on the South African soil”.