Mapisa-Nqakula is free until April 2 as judgment is reserved
• Speaker’s lawyers tell the high court that the state is using ‘terror tactics’ to effect an arrest
National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who is facing possible arrest for various counts of corruption and bribery, is a free woman — at least until next Tuesday.
Judge Sulet Potterill of the high court in Pretoria on Monday reserved judgment until April 2 after hearing arguments from the speaker’s lawyers that arresting her now would infringe on her constitutional rights to freedom of movement and right to dignity.
Her legal representatives, Reginald Willis and Graham Kerr-Phillips, on Monday told the court the state was using “terror tactics” to effect an arrest. They argued she has not been informed of the allegations against her and the state had not followed correct procedure.
The state is opposing the application.
Mapisa-Nqakula is facing 12 counts of corruption and bribery stemming from her time as minister of defence. She is accused of soliciting more than R4m in exchange for tenders from a former defence department contractor.
The contractor has since turned state witness.
The speaker claimed in court that the arrest was an attempt to ruin her reputation and that of the ANC ahead of the national and provincial elections. She also claimed she had been subjected to a “trial by media”.
Willis argued that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) leaked a witness statement which details how Mapisa-Nqakula allegedly solicited bribes worth more than R4m during her tenure within the cabinet.
Though the speaker was “keen to disprove the allegations against her in a court of law”, arresting her would be irrational and unlawful, he said.
In a report on Sunday in Business Day’s sister newspaper, the Sunday Times reported that documents found at Mapisa-Nqakula’s home during a raid by the NPA last week proved that cash was used by the speaker to renovate her home in Johannesburg.
Arguing for the state, Makhosi Gwala said the speaker was attempting to frustrate the functions of the NPA by seeking to interdict the arrest.
“Fundamentally, there is nothing that we have said that [says] we want to arrest your client [Mapisa-Nqakula]. All that we have said is … bring your client ... there is no threat of detention,” Gwala said. “This is a procedural matter so that the trial gets under way.”
Mapisa-Nqakula took “special leave” last week vowing to clear her name of the corruption and bribery charges, which she said were trumped up to soil her name and that of the ANC.
Deputy speaker Lechesa Tsenoli has been appointed to act in her absence.
Both the DA, which has launched an urgent motion in parliament to remove her, and the IFP have called for the speaker to step down from her position.
The ANC said it had taken note of her legal battles. Should she be criminally charged, the ANC said it would implement its “step aside policy” against her, meaning she would have to step down from her position in parliament until the criminal matter is resolved.