Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Tuesday confirmed that the corruption-accused Gupta brothers’ application to renew their South African passports was denied.
The family fled to Dubai in 2016 following allegations of corruption and state capture.
The Gupta brothers – Ajay, Atul and Rajesh ‘Tony’ – are accused of having used their friendship with former President Jacob Zuma to secure billions worth of contracts from state-owned entities.
Motsoaledi said they received their applications a few weeks back.
“I really don’t think their passports have expired. It might be that they’ve travelled for so long that the pages are now full. If their passports are indeed full, it means that they can’t travel because they’re using South African passports,” he said.