Allegations against Speaker symbolic of ANC’S decay

THE unfolding scandal around the alleged fraud and money laundering by National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-nqakula, who has been forced to take “special leave” pending an investigation by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), is emblematic of many troubles millionaire politicians find themselves in.

There was anticipation across the media landscape following speculation that she would hand herself over to the police on Friday. That didn’t happen.

She’s accused of soliciting bribes amounting to R2.3 million in 2021 from a service provider of the Department of Defence of which she was a minister.

She has since filed an urgent interdict to stop her arrest.

She cited her health and age as risk factors if she were put in jail.

For three years between 2009 and 2012, she was the Correctional Services Minister, responsible for the oversight of these facilities.

Her mandate was to ensure that the facilities were conducive to the rehabilitation of offenders and that they were safe for all prisoners who presented themselves with various kinds of illnesses.

The timing of her admission that she failed on her mandate is ironic.

A member of Parliament and Cabinet member for various departments for a long time, Mapisa-nqakula is one of a few “1 percenters” of South Africans who earn a salary of R3million per annum and enjoys a full spread of government benefits, from VIP protection, free international travel, being chauffeured to all official engagements, and getting to sleep in luxury state homes paid for by taxpayers.

Yet here she is, facing accusations that she was pestering a businesswoman for cash just because she happened to be a service provider for a department that she was the political head of.

If these allegations are proven to be true they expose the unredeemable moral decay of ANC politicians, whose greed is bottomless.

The Defence Ministry suffers from budget cuts that will one day render the SANDF useless.

Like all accused, she still deserves her day in court to defend herself against these allegations.