South Africa’s former parliament speaker has been charged with corruption and money laundering, in the latest scandal to hit the governing African National Congress (ANC) party before elections in May.
Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who resigned from her post as speaker on Wednesday, appeared before a court in Pretoria after she handed herself in to police and was formally detained.
“Charges against Ms Mapisa-Nqakula are 12 counts of corruption … and one of money laundering,” Bheki Manyathi of the National Prosecuting Authority told the court.
Mapisa-Nqakula, 67, remained silent in the dock, and was later granted release on bail.
“I’m not at flight risk,” the ANC veteran said in a submission read by her lawyer, Graham Kerr-Phillips. “I will receive a state pension which I cannot afford to lose,” she added, also describing the case against her as weak.
Coming just under two months before national elections, the case has added to the woes of the ANC, which is struggling in the polls amid a weak economy and accusations of official corruption and mismanagement.
Mapisa-Nqakula is the latest in a string of senior ANC politicians, including the president and vice-president, to be embroiled in corruption scandals. She is accused of soliciting sizeable amounts in bribes from a former military contractor during her previous tenure as defence minister. She denies the allegations.
Manyathi said the politician allegedly asked for “gratifications” totalling more than 4.5m rand (£190,000). A state witness confirmed paying her a 2.1m-rand bribe, he added.
The judge set bail at 50,000 rand and adjourned the case to 4 June. Mapisa-Nqakula will have to hand in her passport and avoid any contact with state witnesses.
On Wednesday, she resigned as speaker and as a lawmaker with immediate effect, a day after losing an attempt in court to prevent her possible arrest. In her resignation letter, she maintained her innocence but said she had decided to step down to uphold the integrity of parliament and focus on the investigation against her.
“Given the seriousness of the much-publicised allegations against me, I cannot continue in this role,” she wrote.
The move followed a raid carried out in March by members of an investigative team at Mapisa-Nqakula’s residence, a high-end property in an eastern suburb of Johannesburg.
Local media reports said she had allegedly solicited 2.3m rand in bribes from a former military contractor.
Parliament said she would be replaced by her deputy, Lechesa Tsenoli. However, on Thursday, the leading opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, called for a new speaker to be urgently elected.
Mapisa-Nqakula served as defence minister between 2014 and 2021 before being appointed speaker in a move that drew criticism from the opposition. At the time, she had come under fire for perceived incompetence in responding to a spate of deadly unrest in which more than 300 people were killed.
South Africans head to the polls in national and provincial elections on 29 May.
ANC’s share of the vote is expected to drop below 50% for the first time since the advent of democracy in 1994, potentially forcing it to form a coalition with rival parties to remain in power.
