The unspeakable speaker
National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s presumptuous attempt to avoid arrest was not surprising. She has got away with so much for so long, she imagines she’s invulnerable. Being an MP since 1994, she has bulldozed her way through multiple controversies.
During her tenure as home affairs minister, the management of asylum seekers “just about collapsed and [was] spinning out of control”. On her watch, 2008’s deadly wave of xenophobic violence erupted in Gauteng. No consequences for her.
The infamous landing of a private plane at the Waterkloof Air Force Base in 2013, for a Gupta family wedding at Sun City, happened when she was defence minister. It was her responsibility. By law, her permission was required for such a landing, yet Mapisa-Nqakula escaped censure.
Also in 2013, she eluded punishment for using an air force helicopter for ANC party business, having been despatched by then president Jacob Zuma to accept a memorandum on his behalf.
The following year she allegedly broke several laws by smuggling a Burundian woman to South Africa from the Democratic Republic of Congo, using Air Force Base Waterkloof and an allegedly fake passport.
Absolutely No Consequences (ANC).
She did, however, receive a formal reprimand from President Cyril Ramaphosa for her next high-profile violation: transporting an ANC delegation to Harare to meet Zanu-PF leaders in 2020.
It is unclear why Ramaphosa did not act more firmly against her.
If he had more backbone, he would have banished her when she publicly contradicted his description of the July 2021 riots as an attempted insurrection. She later retracted but then clashed with Saps leaders about an apparent lack of cooperation and intelligence-sharing from them over the riots. Trouble, trouble.
Although Ramaphosa moved her from the defence portfolio after the riots, it was hardly a demotion. She was installed as National Assembly speaker.
It’s a big deal when the head of this country’s legislature faces arrest, but the corrupt ANC and cowardly Ramaphosa should have seen this coming. For decades, Mapisa-Nqakula has been allowed to do as she pleases.
And the corruption alleged in the current charges was highlighted four years ago when UDM leader Bantu Holomisa alerted the joint standing committee on defence in writing.
Presumed immunity, rather than ignorance of the law, led Mapisa-Nqakula to think she could again get away scot-free.
Zuma has perfected Stalingrad tactics of fighting in court over every detail. If Mapisa-Nqakula has stashed enough cash, she may be able to emulate Zuma’s litigious approach.
All of this – impunity, corruption, delaying tactics – is ANC culture. Ramaphosa has thus far dodged consequences for his dollar cash stash, greater than what Mapisa-Nqakula is alleged to have bagged.
Let’s not pretend that under the ANC the speaker’s office has been an epitome of rectitude. One previous occupant lied about how she obtained a driver’s licence. She also accompanied convicted fraudster Tony Yengeni to Pollsmoor Prison in 2006 and was found by a US law firm to have been bribed by a mining company. Another speaker defended her.
In this milieu, there’s nothing surprising about Mapisa-Nqakula’s predicament. It’s a window into a party we can remove at the ballot box.