Former National Assembly Speaker and former Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is set to stand trial for corruption in July 2026.
The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria postponed the matter during her brief appearance on Friday, said Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) spokesperson Henry Mamothame.
Mapisa-Nqakula had previously planned to apply for the disclosure of parts of the prosecution docket the State maintained were confidential.
However, Mamothame said she has now confirmed she is ready to proceed with the trial.
NOT THE FACE OF CORRUPTION
“She has indicated through her new attorney that she will not pursue filing representations with the office of the NDPP, and that she is ready to proceed with trial,” Mamothame said.
Her R50,000 bail was extended until her next court appearance.
Mapisa-Nqakula faces 12 charges of corruption and money laundering linked to alleged bribe payments made between 2016 and 2019.
As previously reported by The South African, Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu, owner of Umkhombe Marine, filed a 2021 affidavit alleging the former minister solicited roughly R5 million in bribes from her company over two years.
In a statement sent by Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu’s lawyer to Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Defence, she alleged:
“Cash payments ranging from R100 000 to R500 000 from 16th to 25th February, 13 March, 18 May 2018 and between 22 May, 5 and July 2018 while travelling to Ghana are some of the dates and amounts the minister extorted from our client.”
The alleged bribes were reportedly in exchange for freight and logistics tenders worth more than R200 million for the SANDF.
Meanwhile, speaking to MDN News after the court appearance, Mapisa-Nqakula distanced herself from the allegations, saying that she was not the “face of corruption”.
“There are faces of corruption in South Africa. The real criminals, the real mafia, the real thugs in this country are coming out and [more] are yet to come [out],” she said.
