The Pretoria High Court has found that the State had established a prima facie case of corruption and money laundering against former defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, and she has a case to answer.
The ruling came on Monday and came in response to Mapisa-Nqakula’s application to have the charges against her dropped. After the State closed its case, Mapisa-Nqakula’s legal team applied to have her acquitted without mounting a defence or taking the witness stand. They argued that the State had failed to present sufficient evidence to justify continuing the trial.
Yesterday’s ruling, delivered by Judge Mashudu Munzhelele, has paved the way for the case against her to continue.
Mapisa-Nqakula faces 12 counts of corruption and one count of money laundering. She is accused of soliciting and receiving R4.5 million in bribes, including R2.1 million allegedly paid in cash by Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu, a service provider to the South African National Defence Force, between December 2016 and July 2019.
Mapisa-Nqakula has denied the allegations.
She resigned as National Assembly speaker and as a Member of Parliament in April 2024, and handed herself over to police at Lyttelton police station in the same month.
Her resignation and surrender to police followed the Pretoria High Court’s dismissal of her application to block her arrest over the corruption allegations in March 2024.
IOL News