Johnathan Paoli
THE Pretoria Magistrates Court has postponed former National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s corruption case to 9 July as the prosecution has decided not to pursue a second accused as there was insufficient evidence, the NPA said.
Mapisa-Nqakula was in court on Tuesday facing multiple charges of corruption.
Speaking to the media, the Investigating Directorate (ID) of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said Mapisa-Nqakula remained the only accused in the state’s case at this stage.
ID Spokesperson Henry Mamothame said the current evidence before them was not sufficient to pursue any other individual except Mapisa-Nqakula.
“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,” Mamothame said.
The ID insisted, however, that it did possess sufficient evidence to prosecute Mapisa-Nqakula and according to Mamothame, the directorate approached the court in order to attain a high court date, due to the serious nature of the allegations.
The court has extended the former speaker’s bail of R50 000 to July 9 under the same conditions.
Mapisa-Nqakula was released in April this year, despite the State’s request of a R100 000 bail. However, she pleaded with the court that due to her current position as a pensioner, after resigning as a Speaker, she could only afford a payment of R50 000.
Her bail conditions include handing over her passport as well as she was ordered not to make contact with any of the state’s witnesses, directly or indirectly.
The prosecution team confirmed that the charges against her included 12 counts of corruption under the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act and one of money laundering under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act for allegedly soliciting R4.5 million from a defence contractor.
In addition, Mapisa-Nqakula allegedly received R2.1million allegedly in bribes.
Presiding Magistrate, Luyo Mahlangu said in light of the state’s intention to align Mapisa-Nqakula to the High Court for trial, the court postponed the matter under the existing bail conditions.
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