Court dismisses Mapisa-Nqakula’s application to block her arrest
An application by National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to block her arrest has been dismissed by the High Court in Pretoria.
She launched the application for the interdict after a search and seizure was carried out at her Johannesburg home last month.
The case relates to an NPA investigation into allegations that she accepted bribes during her time as defence minister.
Last month, Mapisa-Nqakula's legal representatives told the court they had no choice but to apply for the interim interdict as they'd received no response to queries on when investigators planned to arrest her.
The ruling was handed down by Judge Sulet Potterill on Tuesday morning.
“The whole premise of the applicant case is one, the applicant’s standing in society; two, there is an unlawful prosecution; three, the arrest will be unlawful; and four, the applicant's constitutional right to dignity and freedom of movement will be infringed.
In the answering affidavit to this application, the NDDP confirms that it will not oppose bail. Arrest simply is not urgent. It is most certainly simply not within the power of this court to instruct the minister and its officials to summon the applicant versus to arrest her."
ALSO READ:
