Court grants Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula bail of R50,000

Former National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was granted R50,000 bail after appearing in the Pretoria magistrate’s court on corruption charges, on Thursday.

Magistrate Anna Oosthuizen said she was satisfied Mapisa-Nqakula had proved she was eligible for bail and successfully argued she could only afford R50,000, despite the state requesting R100,000 bail.

Mapisa-Nqakula handed herself over at the Lyttelton police station on Thursday morning after her failed court bid to interdict her pending arrest.

The former speaker faces 12 charges of corruption and one of money laundering. She is accused of receiving more than R2m in kickbacks for a defence contract when she was defence minister.

On Thursday, Mapisa-Nqakula took the stand after the court granted the media’s application to broadcast, take pictures and record her appearance.

Standing in the dock in a blue and yellow dress, she was surrounded by a full gallery and scores of media while her husband, former defence minister Charles Nqakula, sat in the gallery. Seated with him was ANC member and former National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete who had also accompanied Mapisa-Nqakula.

State prosecutor advocate Bheki Manyathi said the onus was on the accused to prove her release on bail was in the interest of justice, as she faced schedule 5 offences.

In her affidavit, read by her lawyer, advocate Graham Kerr-Phillips, Mapisa-Nqakula said she was clueless about the case brought against her.

She said the evidence against her was based on witnesses but such evidence was not corroborated during the search and seizure at her home in March.

Mapisa-Nqakula also stated that her arrest could be politically motivated, which could raise the ANC’s step-aside rule, compelling her party to remove her should she face criminal charges.

Being an elderly person, she raised concerns about the poor conditions in prison, stating they were unsafe and incapable of rehabilitating offenders.

Her ill health was also raised.

“My client suffers from hypertension and it’s dangerous. She is on medication,” Kerr-Phillips said.

Manyathi said the state would not oppose bail as they believed the accused is was not a flight risk, and considered her health. However, Manyathi requested R100,000 bail based on the amount of money she is accused of receiving.

Some of her bail conditions include that her passport be surrendered to the state by 4pm on April 8, she does not apply for another passport pending finalisation of the matter and does not communicate directly or indirectly, or interfere, with state witnesses.

The matter has been postponed to June 4 for the state to add another accused.

Prosecutor Manyathi said the case would most likely be transferred to the Pretoria high court.

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