Mapisa-Nqakula: State recants on prospects of second suspect as graft case postponed
The graft case against former National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has been postponed to 9 July for a high court date.
On Tuesday, the state indicated in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court that it intended to indict the 67-year-old for trial in the high court.
Mapisa-Nqakula faces 12 counts of corruption and one of money laundering relating to allegations she solicited and received bribes worth over R2 million from an army contractor during her tenure as defence minister.
READ MORE: Mapisa-Nqakula arrives at police station to hand herself over
In April, she was released on R50,000 bail after surrendering to authorities at Lyttelton Police Station.
Magistrate VL Mahlangu addressed the former speaker: “The state intends to arraign you to the high court for trial in the high court. For that purpose, to enable the state to prepare the indictment, the matter is postponed until the 9th of July, 2024. You are currently on bail. Your bail is extended.”
At the former speaker’s first court appearance in April, the state said it was considering adding a second accused person.
However, on Monday, prosecutor Bheki Manyathi revealed that they had decided against the move.
“That person was going to be charged with only one count of money laundering, not corruption. We have since the previous occasion reconsidered and a decision has been taken not to add any accused.”
Meanwhile, the National Prosecuting Authority Investigating Unit’s spokesperson, Henry Mamothame, said they are confident of a watertight case.
“Well, we don’t enroll any matter before the court if we are not convinced that the evidence before us may stand the test of time in the trial court. So, we are confident, but as we know, the final decision will be that of the judge.”
LEGAL FEES
Last month, Defence Minister Thandi Modise confirmed that Mapisa-Nqakula’s request for assistance with her legal fees had been rejected.
Modise said the ministry's policy did not allow them to provide legal aid to her predecessor.
"Section 6.2 of the State Legal Representation Policy states that the cover “applies to any claim lodged or commenced against any person arising from and/or directly connected with an alleged act and /or omission on the part of the applicant in the execution of official duties or where applicant objectively and in good faith believed that he or she was acting within the course and scope of employment, or is based on any grounds arising from or connected with applicant's official duties.
"Guided by this policy, we have concluded that the allegations levelled against the former Minister are not linked to the execution of her duties at the time. Correspondence to this effect has been sent to the applicant, and the matter is now officially closed,” read the statement from the ministry.
Mapisa-Nqakula was defence minister between 2016 and 2019, during which time she allegedly pocketed bribes from a prominent army contractor.
Before handing herself over, the former speaker had been embroiled in a fierce legal bid to stop her arrest.
She lost her urgent bid in the High Court in Pretoria for an interdict to interdict her arrest following a search and seizure carried out at her Johannesburg home in March.
Her legal team argued in court that they had no choice but to apply for the interim interdict as they had received no response to queries about when investigators planned to arrest her.
Mapisa-Nqakula wanted to be summonsed to court rather than handcuffed.
Judge Sulet Potterill handed down the ruling, saying it was not within the court’s powers to instruct the minister of police and its officials to summon the former speaker instead of arresting her.
WHISTLEBLOWER
The charges against the former speaker emanate from claims by well-known defence industry businesswoman Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu, the sole director of logistics company Umkhombe Marine, which did business with the South African National Defence Force, who said she paid bribes totalling some R2 million to Mapisa-Nqakula.
Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu faced fraud charges relating to a R100 million tender in the Specialised Commercial Crimes court. However, the matter has since been struck off the roll.
The businesswoman is a Section 204 witness in the case against Mapisa-Nqakula.
Section 204 of the Criminal Procedure Act provides for the court to grant immunity from prosecution to a witness.
During bail proceedings in May, Mapisa-Nqakula’s lawyers argued that the state relied heavily on a single witness and sought to cast doubt on her reliability by implying that she was motivated by her own personal interest to avoid prosecution.
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