Johannesburg: A South African parliamentary panel has said a full-scale investigation would be initiated into the citizenship status of the Gupta family members, who are closely linked to former president Jacob Zuma.
The move comes after the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) wrote a letter to the chairperson of the South African Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, requesting a probe following Home Minister Malusi Gigaba's controversial remarks about the citizenship of the Gupta family members.
The committee will institute a full-scale parliamentary inquiry into the Gupta family's citizenship, sources said.
The House Chairperson of Committees in Parliament, Cedric Frolick, had instructed the chairpersons of portfolio committees to institute inquiries into alleged state capture probes on June 15 last year already, but these have
been delayed for various reasons.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) had alleged that more Gupta family members were granted South African citizenship but this was never reported to Parliament.
"Home Minister Malusi Gigaba and his department only explained the circumstances surrounding the naturalisation of five Gupta family members, when there was in fact a further six members of the Gupta family that are South African citizens and registered as voters on the IEC database," the Democratic Alliance (DA) was quoted as saying by the Independent Online.