State will not prosecute 2nd person in Mapisa-Nqakula case

Mapisa-Nqakula

Cape Town — Embattled former parliament speaker, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, appeared in front of the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday on multiple charges of corruption.

After her court appearance, the Investigating Directorate (ID) of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said that Mapisa-Nqakula remains the only persona accused in this case after the court said during her last court appearance that she would appear with a co-accused, IOL reported.

NPA spokesperson, Henry Mamothame, explained that the evidence before them was not sufficient to pursue any other person.

“We had to engage the evidence before us. Remember it was only one charge of money laundering. After further engagement between our investigators and our prosecution team, the ID decided not to pursue the second accused. This is based on the fact that the evidence before us was not sufficient for us to pursue the second accused person.” he said.

The Investigative Directorate however insists that it has sufficient evidence to prosecute Mapisa-Nqakula.

“We are here (Pretoria Magistrate’s Court) to serve an indictment and to get a high court date. We feel that the matter has to go to the high court owing to its serious nature,” said Mamothame.

The court extended Mapisa-Nqakula’s R50 000 bail to July 9 on the same conditions. She was initially released in April on R50 000 bail.

She was also ordered not to contact the State’s witnesses – directly or indirectly.

Mapisa-Nqakula is facing 12 charges of corruption under Preca (Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act) and one of money laundering under Poca (Prevention of Organised Crime Act) for soliciting R4.5 million from a defence contractor.

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Compiled by Matthew Petersen

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