Cape Town – The legal team representing former National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has once again emphasised her innocence and insinuated that the charges against her are politically driven, particularly in light of the upcoming national elections scheduled for May 29.
Mapisa-Nqakula faced the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Thursday on 12 counts of corruption related to the PRECCA Act and was granted R50 000 bail, with her next court appearance scheduled for June 4.
May remained unconvinced of any substantial grounds for his client’s prosecution until presented with compelling evidence beyond the bail affidavit.
According to SABC, her lawyer, Stephen May, argued that the National Prosecuting Authority’s case was weak and lacked substantial evidence, noting a request for postponement to add another person to the charge sheet without disclosing their identity.
“Yesterday, I was satisfied and the process was consummately professional and so far what is being done now I view it as a form of litigation but let me leave it at that.”
“The charge sheet in certain instances is certainly coy and it references another person. They wanted a postponement to add another person to the charge sheet without telling us who it is. But in so far as evidence is concerned we don’t have that. Until I see evidence which surpasses what is said in the bail affidavit, I am not convinced that there’s really something for my client of any genuine substance to answer,” the report quoted May as saying.
Former National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s legal team has reiterated that their client is innocent and suggests that charges against her are politically motivated as the country is set to hold national elections on May 29. https://t.co/WXRLoS6f27 pic.twitter.com/xoB3KM8IAN
— SABC News (@SABCNews) April 5, 2024
Mapisa-Nqakula, who resigned her speaker post on Wednesday, turned herself in to police and was formally arrested.
“Charges against Ms Mapisa-Nqakula are 12 counts of corruption… and one of money laundering,” Bheki Manyathi of the National Prosecuting Authority told the court, according to AFP.
Wearing a yellow and blue dress and matching head-cover as she sat in the dock, the 67-year-old ANC veteran remained silent, and was later granted release on bail.
“I’m not at flight risk,” she said in a statement read by her lawyer Graham Kerr-Phillips. “I will receive a state pension which I cannot afford to lose,” she added, while describing the case against her as weak.
Coming just under two months before national elections, the case has added to the woes of the ANC, which is struggling in opinion polls amid a weak economy and accusations of official graft and mismanagement.
Mapisa-Nqakula, is the latest in a string of senior ANC politicians, including President Cyril Ramaphosa and his vice president, to become embroiled in corruption scandals.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
