Speaker a suspect in human smuggling case
Mapisa-nqakula is facing charges in terms of the immigration, defence and PFMA acts, with more charges to follow, say police
EIGHT years after former defence minister and now Speaker of Parliament Nosiviwe Mapisa-nqakula allegedly smuggled a Burundian, Michelle Wege, into South Africa on an air force chartered jet, the police have named her as a suspect in the case.
In an email sent to Mapisa-nqakula’s lawyer, seen by Independent Media, police confirmed that “yes, the Speaker of Parliament (sic) is regarded as a suspect”.
“The charges are on the Immigration Act, and also The Defence Act, 2002 (Act no 42 of 2002), as well as contravention of the Public Finance Management Act 1999 (Act no 1 of 1999),” the email stated.
Further, that “more charges will be added when the indictment is issued”.
Independent Media can exclusively reveal that police wrote to Mapisanqakula's lawyer, Cliff Alexander, in November in a bid to get her warning statement, and named her as a suspect in the case, which violated immigration laws.
Approached for comment, Alexander yesterday responded that the investigative officer directed correspondence to one of the Speaker’s staff, to which they responded without undue delay.
“The Speaker, like any other suspect, is not obliged to furnish the SAPS with an explanation and is entitled to remain silent.
“The Speaker, acting on legal advice, has exercised her constitutional right not to furnish the SAPS with an explanation and has elected to remain silent and advised the SAPS accordingly.
“The SAPS member/s who allege that the Speaker is not cooperating is/ are being duplicitous. Since our last correspondence to the SAPS, they have elected not to revert to either ourselves or our client. The Speaker has offered her full cooperation within the prescripts of the law and will continue to do so,” Alexander said in a statement.
Reports that Mapisa-nqakula had smuggled Wege into the country surfaced in 2014 and, up until now, it seemed the matter had died down.
In spite of repeated media reports about the incident, Mapisa-nqakula has climbed the political ladder.
Mapisa-nqakula claimed at the time that she had rescued Wege from her abusive father. But the father, Laurent Wege, denied ever abusing his daughter and revealed that he had had business relations with Mapisa-nqakula that soured, and that his daughter was dating one of the minister’s sons at the time.
The businessman said his daughter was planning to marry Mapisa-nqakula’s son, Chumani, before the young man was stabbed to death in October 2015.
When Mapisa-nqakula rescued Wege, she had been arrested and detained for 10 days in the Democratic Republic of Congo after trying to board a flight from Kinshasa to Johannesburg using fake documents.
Wege allegedly got the fake documents from Mapisa-nqakula’s sister, Nosithembele Mapisa, who worked in the Burundi embassy at the time. Mapisa-nqakula allegedly used her influence as defence minister to charter an air force jet to Kinshasa from where she flew the 22-year-old to South Africa without a valid passport.
South African ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo at the time, Ntsiki Mashimbye, refused to meet Mapisa-nqakula during her visit after he became aware of her mission. Mapisa-nqakula, with her entourage of six senior government officers, which included two defence force generals, landed at Waterkloof Air Force Base on January 28, 2014, with Wege, who was travelling on a fake passport.
Sources with intimate knowledge of the investigation confirmed that police have been trying to obtain statements from all the officials on that flight.
“Letters have been sent to the defence force about three weeks ago, requesting the list of all the passengers who were on that flight so police can obtain statements from them,” one of the sources said.
DA shadow defence minister Kobus Marais, who opened the criminal case against Mapisa-nqakula, yesterday said that police had been trying to get a warning statement from the Speaker.
“The case has been dragging on because I understand Mapisa-nqakula is allegedly not cooperating with the police investigation,” Marais said.
Four sources have told Independent Media that Wege allegedly fled the minister’s house in Bedfordview and returned to live with her father, the same man Mapisa-nqakula accused of abusing her.
“I won’t be surprised if Michelle was smuggled out of the country as the net is closing in on Nosiviwe,” one of the sources said.
Another said Wege also left her young baby at the minister’s house when she ran away.
“Apparently, the baby isn’t Chumani’s, as Michelle fell pregnant after he had passed away.”
Sources in Burundi say she is living