The special advisor to the National Assembly Speaker, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, asserted that if the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had discovered what they sought during the raid on her residence, they would have arrested her.
Last week, the NPA conducted a raid at Mapisa-Nqakula’s home in Johannesburg in connection to corruption allegations. These allegations accuse her of soliciting a R2.3 million bribe from a defence contractor during her tenure as Minister of Defence.
Following the raid, Mapisa-Nqakula took a leave of absence from her role as Speaker. Mike Ramagoma, her special advisor, accused the NPA of attempting to embarrass the Speaker into resigning.
Ramagoma says, “I believe the decision to arrest her was made before the raid. I think the intention was that if they found the things that they were looking for in the raid, they would have arrested her but unfortunately they didn’t find them. They came there, after the raid of course they left a list of items that they were looking for. A handbag of a particular designer name, a bear skin with a head and claws, cash amounting to or exceeding R20 000 in either South African rands or foreign currency, a wig, those kinds of things. They did not find those things and I think that’s the reason why they decided to leave without having arrested her that day.”
Ramagoma also insisted that the NPA should comply with the request to hand over the dockets to Mapisa-Nqakula’s legal team. He expressed, “It has to be made available because you need to understand the purpose of this case. Is this a case that is based on real evidence on what has happened or is this a case where someone is trying to escape his own criminality by doing a deal that will make them survive whilst they try to implicate someone else.”
Meanwhile, an urgent application by Mapisa-Nqakula has been postponed until 3 p.m. in the High Court in Pretoria. This postponement came after Judge Sulet Potterill mentioned not having received the responding affidavit from the respondents. The Speaker’s legal counsel is expected to reply to the affidavit, after which Judge Potterill will review the papers.
Mapisa-Nqakula initiated the application to seek an interdict preventing the police from arresting her.
Judge Potterill says, “The opposing affidavit hasn’t been filed, I haven’t had sight of it. You have told me in chambers that you might need to reply. So I’m letting this matter stand down until 3 o’Clock – so you’re excused and you can come back at three. I may not be ready to hear you because I still need to read the papers but I will try… the matter stands down.”
Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula | Urgent court application to interdict arrest:
