The corruption trial of former National Assembly speaker, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, was on Monday postponed to November 21 for her attorney to consult with her on the case docket that has been provided by the state.

Mapisa-Nqakula briefly again appeared in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, during which her attorney indicated that they may file representations with the office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions, pending the outcome of the consultation process.

Mapisa-Nqakula is facing 12 counts of corruption and money laundering wherein she is accused of receiving and soliciting R4.5 million, with R2.1 million allegedly received as cash from a service provider.

Her legal team earlier applied for further particulars of the case docket against her. Her team had received part A of the case docket, but the defence team also wanted documents listed in parts B and C. The legal team has meanwhile been supplied with some of the documents.

Mapisa-Nqakula’s R50,000 bail has meanwhile been extended. The charges against her relate to her tenure between 2016 and 2019 when she was Minister of Defence. Mapisa-Nqakula allegedly solicited R4.5 million from a service provider of the Department of Defence and Military Veterans.

The summary of facts contained in the indictment states that Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu – the State’s star witness – was at the time of the alleged offences, the sole director of Umkhombe Marine Pty Ltd.

The core business of Umkhombe was to provide logistics services to the South African National Defence Force on a procurement basis. In February 2016, Umkhombe was awarded a contract to the value of R104 million by the SANDF. A few days after the award of this contract, Nombasa was informed by the SANDF that the contract was suspended.

In an effort to rectify the situation, Nombasa contacted certain people, and she was provided with Mapisa-Nqakula’s contact number. According to the indictment, Nombasa called the former Speaker about the suspended contract and the latter undertook to investigate the matter.

On or about November 2016, Mapisa-Nqakula allegedly requested the late Secretary of Defence, Dr Sam Gulube, to approach Nombasa and ask her for R300,000. Nombasa allegedly handed R300,000 in cash to Gulube a few days later.

It is claimed that a second request was made by Gulube on behalf of the accused for an amount of R400,000. Nombasa apparently decided not to pay, and instead sought a meeting with Mapisa-Nqakula.

In December 2016, one Nozuko arranged with Nombasa for her to meet the accused at the InterContinental Hotel at OR Tambo International Airport, the indictment read. It is alleged that during this meeting, Mapisa-Nqakula confirmed that she had indeed sent Gulube to Nombasa to ask for both the R300,000 and R400,000.

It was allegedly agreed that all future engagements would be directly between Mapisa-Nqakula and Nombasa. It is alleged by the prosecution that between December 2016 and July 2019, the accused asked for cash payments and a wig from Nombasa. It is claimed that of the R4,550,000 asked for by Mapisa-Nqakula, Nombasa paid a total of R2,150,000 in cash to her.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za

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