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Parliamentary committees not part of any plot against Gigaba - Mthembu

The matter of embattled Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba didn't arise when President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the ANC caucus on Tuesday morning.

Unity was the main topic of discussion, ANC secretary general Ace Magashule and chief whip Jackson Mthembu told the media after the special caucus meeting, which was addressed by Ramaphosa in his capacity as president of the ANC.

It has been a week the minister would rather forget: a sex video emerged, the Constitutional Court didn't grant him leave to appeal a court ruling that he lied, and the Public Protector found that he not only violated the executive ethics code, but also the Constitution, by "deliberately telling untruths under oath".

READ: 'There will be hell to pay' if I am removed from ANC - Gigaba

On Monday, a draft report of the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises' inquiry into Eskom also leaked, in which Gigaba was named as one of those who should be criminally investigated.

Gigaba claimed there was a "devious plot" against him, adding that the committee had been part of a "well-orchestrated political campaign".

"There was no discussion on comrade Gigaba in caucus," Mthembu said, responding to journalists.

"The committees of Parliament [are] not part of any plot."

Gigaba cuts a lone figure

He said Parliament would continue to work "without any fear or favour". He said there had been no complaints at the office of the chief whip about a plot.

"We are doing our work because we have a responsibility to hold accountable all members of the executive."

Cyril Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa before he were to address the ANC caucus on Tuesday morning. (Jan Gerber/News24)

Even though the media were invited to attend the opening remarks of the meeting, journalists were only allowed to take pictures as caucus members sang before the meeting started.

Gigaba danced all by himself as Ramaphosa grinned broadly from the opposite end of the Old Assembly Chamber, at almost the furthest point from the minister of home affairs. When he saw the cameras pointed at him, Gigaba quickly found his seat.

SEE: Gigaba shows EFF the pinky after 'hack' taunts continue in Parliament

Asked about the possibility of a Cabinet reshuffle, Magashule said: "If there will be any Cabinet reshuffle, we have mandated the president to deal with these matters."

Magashule said Ramaphosa told the ANC caucus: "We must be mindful that to steam ahead with our programme of radical socio-economic transformation, we must strive to retain and grow our parliamentary majority."

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