D-day for Mapisa-Nqakula in urgent application to block her arrest

National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula will find out on Tuesday if her urgent court application to block her arrest has succeeded or failed.

The speaker wants the High Court in Pretoria to order law enforcement authorities to summon her to court rather than arresting her on the preferred date of 3 April, when her lawyer Stephen May is available.

Mapisa-Nqakula is set to face charges of 12 counts of corruption and one of money laundering involving R4.5 million dating back to when she was defense minister.

After a raid by the Hawks at her Johannesburg home last month, it was expected that she would hand herself over to police.

Threats of arrest

During court proceedings last week, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) counsel Makhosi Gwala argued that the prosecuting authority never threatened to arrest Mapisa-Nqakula.

Gwala said the State asked Mapisa-Nqakula to hand herself over to the authorities at a police station and then to appear in court.

“This is a procedural step,” he said.

Gwala argued the Speaker and her lawyers have shown no reasonable arguments why she needed to urgently interdict the State from arresting her, saying their decision to force the State to respond to the case on Monday is “an abuse of process” and that no one can claim a “right not to be arrested”.

“The applicant is trying to frustrate us from performing our statutory function,” Gwala argued. “It’s unheard of that one demands a docket before they are charged.”

“We cannot treat people according to their status, this will collapse the judicial system,” Gwala said.

ALSO READ: ‘Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula not above the law’ − NPA argues

Strong-arm

Mapisa-Nqakula’s Advocate Reg Willis argued that investigators were “trying to strong-arm” her into handing herself over to police.

During arguments, Willis suggested that the Investigative Directorate’s (ID) search and seizure of Mapisa-Nqakula’s home was unlawful, because her lawyer was not present when it happened.

“She was repeatedly asked by Seargeant [Suneel] Bellochun ‘just come down with us, we’ll sort it all out’. Why is that? One can only reasonably suspect that they want to get her aside without her attorney.

“What they want to do is conscript her in the hope that she’s going to give evidence against herself and say something,” Willis argued.

The NPA said it will ask for a “substantial amount” of bail for Mapisa-Nqakula so she won’t “abscond.”

Motion of no confidence

Meanwhile Mapisa-Nqakula is set to face a motion of no confidence amid allegations of corruption against her.

Her deputy, Lechesa Tsenoli, acceded to a request from Democratic Alliance (DA) chief whip Siviwe Gwarube proposing the speaker’s removal from her position in Parliament.

Gwarube cited various allegations of improper conduct in the motion, which was submitted last week in terms of Section 54(2) of the Constitution.

ALSO READ: ‘Mapisa-Nqakula does not have a right not to be arrested’ – NPA