Johnathan Paoli
The National Assembly has confirmed that the Johannesburg residence of Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was searched by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on Tuesday morning.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Parliament said the Speaker steadfastly upholds her strong conviction of innocence and that she fully cooperated with a five-hour-long search of her home.
The statement confirmed that the raid was linked to reports of corruption, with Mapisa-Nqakula being alleged to have benefited in tender kickbacks of over R2 million during her tenure as defence minister.
It said Tuesday morning’s events were also the reason why Mapisa-Nqakula was not presiding over the president’s question time currently underway in the House with the speaker having previously been out of the country.
This follows claims being brought to Parliament’s joint standing committee on defence two years ago, however an investigation was never carried out due to the anonymity of the source.
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