NPA wants to humiliate me — Mapisa-Nqakula
Parliament says deputy speaker to take over running of legislature
The Pretoria high court is tomorrow expected to set a date to hear embattled speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s request to interdict her pending arrest.
Mapisa-Nqakula is fighting back against allegations of fraud and corruption, which caused a frenzy on Friday morning when she was expected to be arrested and appear at the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
However, the speaker was nowhere near a police station or a court, but at home with her family. Instead, she made an urgent application to the Pretoria high court requesting disclosure of the merits of the case against her and an interdict against her arrest.
Among the respondents cited are National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Shamila Batohi and police minister Bheki Cele.
Mapisa-Nqakula said in her application that she had learnt through media reports that she was expected to be arrested and that her matter was on the court roll for Friday. It is unclear whether the speaker or her lawyer, Stephen May, had any discussions with the police as May did not respond to questions by the Sunday Times.
The speaker’s special adviser, Mike Ramagoma, said they were waiting for the court’s decision before moving forward on their bid to clear her name.
“We will know when the court opens tomorrow what the processes are going to be.
“We are asking for a full disclosure of what the allegations are about and the extent of the allegations, who is making them and on what basis... Here is a person who is a victim of a trial by the media, which is deliberately run by a law enforcement agency abusing its powers and using tricks and not the law to run this investigation,” he told the Sunday Times.
Last night parliament said the deputy speaker Lechesa Tsenoli will act as speaker. “He will assume all functions, power and responsibilities vested in speaker,” said parliament spokesperson Moloto Mothapo.
Some critics have suggested that the speaker’s decision to take leave went against Parliament’s rules. However, Mothapo said “leave of absence is provided for in the rules of the Assembly”.
Ramagoma said the saga had brought much stress and anxiety to the 68-year-old Mapisa-Nqakula. While tasked with bringing justice, the NPA was instead hell-bent on humiliating the speaker, he said.
“She is an old person and at that age there are obviously a number of issues and this is not something to be trivial about as the media tries to do. The pressure, the anxiety and stress coming from it and not knowing where it is coming from. The burden of your good name and reputation, after having served South Africa so well for all of your life, could have a detrimental effect on her.
“In this situation, the purpose of the NPA’s tactics is humiliation and not justice.”
Mapisa-Nqakula’s pending arrest has become a PR nightmare for her party as it seeks re-election in what is expected to be the most important vote since 1994. She informed President Cyril Ramaphosa and secretary-general Fikile Mbalula of her decision to go on special leave because of her legal problems. Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya confirmed communication between Ramaphosa and Mapisa-Nqakula but said the two “didn’t meet in person”.
On the campaign trail in Nelson Mandela Bay yesterday, Ramaphosa urged the public to allow party processes to unfold amid calls for Mapisa-Nqakula to be removed from her position. He had been asked about the potential enforcement of the party’s step-aside rule. He urged patience until investigations are concluded.
Ramaphosa said Mapisa-Nqakula was cooperating with law enforcement agencies. Should the issue go further, ANC processes would kick in.
“As far as I know, they raided her house, she hasn’t been charged yet and she said she’s taking special leave.
“There’s a process that’s unfolding. We have processes, geared and independent institutions and in the end, we must rely on those institutions to do their work.
“When we give them space and opportunity to do their work then we will be successful. As far as I’m concerned, the speaker said she’s co-operating, and that in itself says something to all of us.
“It’s already known [that] when it reaches a particular point, certain actions need to be taken. There’s no running away from that.”
Earlier, Mbalula said Mapisa-Nqakula would have to step aside from her position should the NPA bring charges against her.
“The speaker has written to me and has also engaged with me. She has also engaged with the president. She has taken me into [her] confidence in terms of what is happening in as far as those issues that are reported.
“But one of the things that are striking out of that briefing is that there is no warrant or summons that has been served on the speaker in terms of the arrest as it has been widely reported in the country.
“You are facing these issues you will have to surrender yourself to the state and defend yourself. In as far as the ANC is concerned we’ll give you a chance to face those allegations without affecting the party.
“So there’s no issue for us. If our speaker is affected by these issues she will face the law and then the ANC ... is very clear, you step aside to go and face those accusations and charges,” he said.
Mapisa-Nqakula’s move to take special leave is thought to be a strategy to buy her
time until parliament is dissolved before the elections. It is believed that the House of Assembly would not be able to take further steps against her once a new parliament has been elected.
Mapisa-Nqakula said in her application to the high court that the urgency stemmed from threats of an unlawful arrest by NPA Investigating Directorate’s (ID) advocate Bheki Manyathi. Manyathi wrote to her lawyer seeking to make her arrest “as seamless as possible”. However he said that should the speaker delay, the ID would apply section 40 of the Criminal Procedure Act, which sets out instances where an arrest without a warrant can be effected.
“I am a senior person and the respondents rushing me into a public cell for reasons other than that I am a flight risk, is a threat to my health and life,” she said in her court application.
She also sought full disclosure of the docket, stating she is the only one who has not seen it despite all the information being leaked to the media.
“The press already has the disclosure I seek and, by virtue of this disclosure to the press, disclosure to me will not cause any prejudice or risk to the investigation than they have already voluntarily entertained. The disclosure sought will, however, empower me to immediately protect my imperilled pretrial rights.”
Ramagoma said the speaker would be going after a senior official in the NPA who is said to have leaked her case to the media.
“We now know the name of the official in the senior office of the NPA who has been working very unethically to issue information to the media and we still want to investigate what part of the law tactics this is about. We are unable to divulge the name and we want to speak to our lawyers first,” he said.
The speaker is embroiled in fraud and corruption allegations after the Sunday Times reported earlier this month that the ID is investigating her for allegedly receiving millions in cash bribes from a defence force contractor during her term as defence minister.
The investigation found that she allegedly received R2.3m delivered in gift bags by defence businesswoman Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu, wife of a general in the military health service.
This led to a dramatic search and seizure at MapisaNqakula’s home in Bruma, Johannesburg on Tuesday. On Friday, the Sunday Times’ online sister publication TimesLIVE reported exclusively that the ID found and secured critical evidence in the form of documentation related to the speaker’s home renovations.
The documents, which were in a filing cabinet in the study, include receipts that show that some of the work had been paid for using cash. The amount was close to the amount mentioned by Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu in her affidavit, an insider said. “The critical thing here is that she will have to explain and prove the source of the cash that was paid to the contractors. The money cannot have fallen from the sky.”
The Sunday Times understands that Mapisa-Nqakula and her husband, former minister Charles Nqakula, were at home when officials from the ID, backed by the Hawks, arrived. It is understood that it was Charles who opened the front door and let the officers in after a short discussion. This was while the speaker was demanding that the search only begin once her legal representative was there.
In a letter addressed to the NPA and the police service on Friday, her lawyer, May, said such a search and seizure was unlawful and that the ID pounced on Mapisa-Nqakula’s home a week after a warrant was issued, when May was known to be unavailable.
“You were specifically and only allowed by my client’s husband Mr Charles Nqakula into their home and in good faith to wait in the entrance hall of his home for my client’s legal representation to arrive.”
Despite letting the ID know that an attorney from May’s office was on the way to the speaker’s house, the search and seizure operation proceeded without Mapisa-Nqakula having a legal representative present.
“The seeking of an arrest without a warrant would, at the very least, require you to spell out what the need for such a drastic step and freedom-defying action. We remind you of who my client is again,” said May.
In her affidavit Ntsondwa-Ndlhlovu recalled how she and the minister discussed the ongoing renovations at Bruma house and how the costs were beyond expectations.
“She [Mapisa-Nqakula] then drew my attention through the window and I saw workers who were standing. It appeared as if they had just finished working. She then told me she could not pay those workers for painting her house because she was only left with R6,000 in her bank account,” Ntsondwa-Ndlhovu said.
Ramagoma has pointed the finger at NtsondwaNdhlovu, accusing her of colluding with officials in the NPA to ruin the speaker’s name.
“We believe there are people working hard to evade answering their own wrongdoing cases and have made a deal with the NPA to use [the speaker] as a scapegoat in order for them to avoid their own trial. We now know that the witness concerned had a case to answer, which was struck off the roll the same week [the Sunday Times] wrote the article.”
Despite numerous attempts, NPA ID spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga did not respond to questions about the pending arrest.