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The corruption case against former speaker of parliament Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has been postponed.
The Pretoria magistrates’ court postponed the corruption and money laundering case against Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to July 9 for a high court date and provision of an indictment.
The charges relate to her tenure as defence minister, when she allegedly received and solicited about R4.5 million in kickbacks from a defence contractor.
In April, she was released on R50,000 bail after surrendering to authorities at Lyttelton Police Station.
Her legal team has requested sections B and C of the police docket against their client.
Section A of the police docket contains witness statements and documentary evidence, while sections B and C deal with technical aspects of the case, like internal police reports and investigation diaries.
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Investigating Directorate Spokesperson Henry Mamothame said they are confident of a watertight case.
“We provided her with a full disclosure of the docket. It was further confirmed that a list of state witnesses was provided to her on April 8, in order for her to comply with her bail condition of not having any direct or indirect contact with the state witnesses,” Mamothame remarked.
According to The Citizen, Prosecutor Bheki Manyathi told the court during proceedings that the state would provide the evidence against Mapisa-Nqakula to the defence.
“Part of the bail conditions was [for the accused] not to communicate [or] interfere with state witness so it would make sense to provide the list to the accused, otherwise if there is any eventuality and the list has not been provided how do you then hold such person accountable in terms of the law,” the prosecutor said.
Meanwhile, defence minister Thandi Modise confirmed that Mapisa-Nqakula’s request for assistance with her legal fees had been rejected.
Modise said the ministry’s policy did not allow them to provide legal aid to her predecessor.
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