Former home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba has resigned as a member of parliament.

Parliament spokesperson Moloto Mothapo confirmed on Thursday that Gigaba forwarded his resignation two days after he resigned from President Cyril Ramaphosa's cabinet.

Gigaba came under pressure to step down after the public protector and the courts found that he lied under oath when he told a court that he did not approve the Oppenheimer-owned Fireblade VVIP terminal at the OR Tambo International airport in Johannesburg. 

Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane had investigated a complaint laid by Democratic Alliance parliamentary chief whip John Steenhuisen. 

BusinessLIVE reported previously that this came after the high court in Pretoria found in December 2017 that Gigaba had told "untruths" under oath in the matter between him (in his capacity as home affairs minister) and the Oppenheimers’ Fireblade Aviation, in a legal battle about operating a private terminal at OR Tambo International Airport.

Mkhwebane said Steenhuisen’s allegation was substantiated and gave Gigaba an opportunity to respond, but he failed to do so.

She then directed Ramaphosa to take appropriate disciplinary action against Gigaba for violating the constitution, the ethics code, and parliament’s own code of ethics.

BusinessLIVE reported that Fireblade took Gigaba to court in 2016 after he rejected its application to operate a luxury international terminal at OR Tambo airport. The Oppenheimers accused Gigaba of reversing his approval under pressure from the Gupta family, exerted through the former chair of Denel, Daniel Mantsha. Fireblade leases the terminal land from Denel.