Mapisa-Nqakula ‘ready’ to hand herself over to the cops
Court dismisses speaker’s bid to block her arrest over corruption
National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula says she is willing to hand herself over to the police from today to effect her arrest over allegations of corruption and bribery.
This follows the ruling by the North Gauteng High Court yesterday, which dismissed her application to block her arrest, saying the application was “unreasonable” and “speculative”.
She may face up to 12 counts of corruption and bribery stemming from her time as minister of defence. She is accused of soliciting over R4m in exchange for tenders from a former defence department contractor. The contractor has since turned state witness.
“Whatever the next step from now will be a matter of discussion and agreement between her lawyers and the NPA,” her spokesperson Mike Ramagoma told Sowetan’s sister publication Business Day.
“The speaker had agreed to cooperate with the NPA and that if she’s required to hand herself or to appear in court she would do so, as long as that will be done when her lawyers are available since [they are] still dealing with another matter in Durban until today.” Delivering the ruling yesterday, judge Sulet Potterill also noted that if the court had accepted the speaker’s arguments that she be furnished with the NPA’s evidence against her before effecting an arrest, “the flood gates will be opened”, with other high-profile individuals seeking similar interdicts from the court.
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”.
The NPA can now begin proceedings to effect the speaker’s arrest. The court in Pretoria also struck down the speaker’s request on urgency because the NPA gave Mapisa-Nqakula extraordinary time to prepare for the arrest and her constitutional rights to dignity and freedom of movement would not be impinged, as her legal representatives had argued before the court.
Mapisa-Nqakula took special leave from her role in parliament in March, vowing to clear her name.
Deputy speaker Lechesa Tsenoli has been appointed to act in her absence. Last week, he gave the green light to the DA’s application to have a motion of no confidence in the speaker debated in the house.
The debate, however, has not been scheduled in parliament’s programme.
“Parliament has a responsibility to hold the speaker to account; and we cannot be hamstrung by the ANC and its own processes in performing this role. Once a motion has been tabled, it has to be deliberated on and voted on without delay, the rules of the National Assembly demand,” said DA chief whip Siviwe Gwarube.
The ANC said it will “enforce its integrity and stepaside policies”, which require its members who are criminally charged to step aside temporarily from their positions in the party and from state institutions until the criminal matters are concluded.