By Johnathan Paoli
Former defence minister and National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has rejected the state’s version of her relationship with whistleblower Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu, maintaining that their conversations about sangomas, impepho and traditional medicine reflected a genuine shared spiritual belief and were not coded references to allegedly exchanging bribes.
Taking the witness stand in her own defence on Monday, following a failed discharge application, Mapisa-Nqakula said Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu had approached her partly because the two women believed they belonged to the “same spiritual realm”, after initially connecting over the contractor’s complaints about her treatment by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).
“She came due to the fact that we belong in the same spiritual realm in terms of beliefs,” Mapisa-Nqakula said through a court-appointed translator.
The former speaker sought to explain the nature of her relationship with Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu, a defence contractor and the state’s main witness, after the witness previously
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