MALUSI GIGABA has quit as South African home affairs minister in the wake of a perjury scandal, solving a political predicament for Cyril Ramaphosa and boosting his government’s claim to tackle misrule.

Ramaphosa’s office said Tuesday that he had accepted the resignation of Gigaba, a former finance minister who said he was leaving “to relieve the president from undue pressure” over a court’s finding that he lied under oath.

The resignation caps a dramatic fall from grace for Gigaba, who was once a rising star in the ruling African National Congress and an ally of former president Jacob Zuma, who rewarded him with the top job at the Treasury.

Gigaba survived the downfall of his political patron this year after the ANC sacked Zuma as state president and replaced him with Ramaphosa. The new president pledged to root out corruption but also tried to woo Zuma allies by offering them posts.

But in recent weeks a series of scandals caught up with Gigaba — notably a ruling by the high court that he had lied when he claimed he had not approved a luxury private airport for the Oppenheimer business family, the subject of a protracted legal dispute.

Gigaba was also embarrassed by the release of a private sex tape that he said was hacked from his phone.

(SD-Agencies)