From being Speaker of the National Assembly to now being an accused and a pensioner - Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula had her first dreaded day in dock yesterday and was released on R50 000 bail after being in custody for about five hours.
Not showing any visible emotion, Mapisa-Nqakula, 67, entered the dock at the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court, accompanied by members of the State’s investigating team and the police.
She patiently sat and endured the flashing media cameras and did not once glance in the direction of her husband, Charles Nqakula, good friend Baleka Mbete and others who sat in the public gallery as support.
It was a long day for her, as she handed herself over to the police at the Lyttelton Police Station shortly after 7 yesterday morning. Since then she remained in custody until bail was granted and paid, shortly after two yesterday afternoon.
The charge sheet, containing 12 charges of corruption and one of money laundering was officially handed over to her legal team before her appearance.
In a surprise turn of event, and shortly before the end of the bail proceedings yesterday afternoon, the prosecution announced that the State is planning to add another accused to join Mapisa-Nqakula in the dock during the next court date on June 4.
Lead prosecutor Bheki Manyathi told magistrate Ann Oosthuizen that the prosecution wanted to add another accused and that they thus needed a postponement until June to finalise their plans in this regard.
He remained mum about who the second accused would be, but said the decision to add another accused followed the search and seizure operation at Mapisa-Nqakula’s home last month, when the state seized certain items. This led to further investigations, he said.
He also told the magistrate that the court will, at a later stage, be asked to transfer the trial to the high court.
While the prosecution did not oppose bail for Mapisa-Nqakula, Manyathi did ask the magistrate to set the amount at R100 000 in light of the amount of R4.5 million involved in the alleged corruption charges.
Graham Kerr-Phillips, the advocate who appeared on behalf of Mapisa-Nqakula, however, several times stressed that she is now an ordinary pensioner, as she is no longer the Speaker.
He said in light of this, an amount of R100 000 is too steep for her to pay. He proposed that bail be set as R50 000, which the magistrate accepted.
Mapisa-Nqakula’s husband looked relieved when bail was set at R50 000. It was said that this was the amount which he had brought to court to pose as bail.
Although the prosecution did not oppose bail, it was still in the court’s hands as to whether to grant her bail or not. In this regard, Kerr-Phillips read out an affidavit by Mapisa-Nqakula, in which she once again vehemently denied any wrongdoing, but she said she respected the rule of law.
In her bid to obtain bail, she said she is no threat to either the public or to any of the witnesses who will testify against her. She repeatedly said that the State’s case against her was weak.
She cited in her affidavit several media reports, which spoke of a section 204 witness (who is testifying for the state in a bid to receive indemnity from prosecution) who blew the whistle against her. She said this appeared to be a single witness against her.
Manyathi later hit back and assured the court that the 204 witness was not the only witness. He said there were several witnesses and he assured the court that the State had many other witnesses.
He said the State will on Monday hand over the list of witnesses to Mapisa-Nqakula’s legal team.
Mapisa-Nqakula, meanwhile, further said in her affidavit that she in any event did not know at this stage what the State’s case against her was, other than what she saw in the media.
She said that she will not divulge her defence at this stage and she opted to remain silent in this regard until she fully knows what the State’s case is.
In assuring the court that she is not a flight risk, she said she would lose too much if she did not face her trial. “I embrace the legal system and I’m willing to co-operate with the investigating team,” she said.
She also pointed out that she had voluntarily handed herself over to the police yesterday.
The official charge sheet, meanwhile, at this stage names Mapisa-Nqakula as the only accused.
In the preamble to the charges, it is stated that all times relevant to the charges, she was the minister of defence.
It further states that Nombasa Ntsonwa-Ndhlovu was at the time the sole director of Umkhombe Marine Ltd, whose core business it was to provide logistic services to the SANDF on a procurement basis.
It is said that in February 2016, the company was awarded a contract to the value of R104m by the SANDF.
In August 2016, the company was awarded a “replacement” contract by the SANDF to the value of R79m.
Three months later, Mapisa-Nqakula allegedly requested the late Secretary of Defence, Sam Gulube, to approach Nombasa and request to pay her R300 000. It is said that a few days later, Nombasa allegedly handed the money to Gulube.
According to the charge sheet, a second request was made by Gulube on behalf of Mapisa-Nqakula for an amount of R400 000. Nombasa apparently declined to pay and instead sought a meeting with Mapisa-Nqakula. They met, according to the charge sheet, where it was allegedly agreed that all future engagements would be directly between the two of them.
It is alleged that from then on - between December 2016 up to July 2019 - Mapisa-Nqakula from time to time asked payments from Nombasa. These alleged payments - totally R4.5m form the basis of the 12 corruption charges.
While it is alleged that Mapisa-Nqakula received more than R2m in payments, the prosecution said the amount asked for totalled R4.5m, including a wig.
Pretoria News