South Africa - Pretoria - 04 June 2024. Former National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula at the Pretoria Magistrate's court where her case was postponed to 09 June 2024. Picture: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Newspapers
Former National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula will for now remain the only accused to face 12 counts of corruption and money laundering, emanating from the time when she was a defence minister, after the prosecution decided not to charge a second person alongside her.
Mapisa-Nqakula made her second appearance on Tuesday in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court, where her case was postponed to July 9.
Lead prosecutor Bheki Manyathi told the court that the case will be transferred to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria. Mapisa-Nqakula and her legal team will on this occasion be served with a formal indictment, setting out the exact nature of the charges against her, which will include a small summary of the State’s case.
The indictment will also contain the names of the witnesses who are due to testify in the trial.
Manyathi said that as per the defence’s request, the prosecution had handed over the case docket containing all the statements from the witnesses due to be called. These statements are in the form of affidavits which are not yet in the public domain.
It is understood that the defence will launch a number of interlocutory applications before the high court before the trial kicks off. These include an application for further information in the State’s possession, such as the chain of evidence and extracts from the investigating officer’s diary.
Manyathi meanwhile also told the court that although the prosecution earlier indicated that it would add a second accused to the indictment, it will no longer do so.
He explained that the person, whose name he refused to divulge, would have faced a charge of money laundering and not corruption, but “the decision was taken not to add the accused.”
The Investigating Directorate (ID) of the NPA confirmed that Mapisa-Nqakula remains the only accused person in the case.
Spokesperson for the ID, Henry Mamothame explained that the evidence before them was not sufficient to pursue any other person.
“We had to engage the evidence before us. Remember it was only one charge of money laundering. After further engagement between our investigators and our prosecution team, the ID decided not to pursue the second accused,” he said.
Mapisa-Nqakula meanwhile cut a lone figure in the dock, but she was supported in court by family and friends. She appeared to be a bit more relaxed as during her previous appearance, although she was encouraged before entering the dock to “relax” by one of her friends.
Her R50 000 bail was extended and one of the conditions is that she may not in any manner contact any of the State’s witnesses. Manyathi said one of the reasons that they provided her with the witness statements is so that she can be sure who the witnesses are and thus not mistakenly contravene this bail condition.
Pretoria News
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