Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula granted R50k bail with conditions

Former National Assembly Speaker and Member of Parliament (MP) Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has been granted R50 000 bail with conditions.

Mapisa-Nqakula made her first appearance in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Thursday after handing herself over to police at the Lyttelton Police Station in Tshwane.  

Her court appearance comes a few days after the Pretoria High Court dismissed her application to block her arrest for alleged corruption.

Bail ruling on Mapisa-Nqakula

Magistrate Anna Oosthuizen handed down her ruling, saying she was satisfied that Mapisa-Nqakula had persuaded the court that, on the balance of probabilities, it was in the interests of justice for her to be released.

Watch Magistrate Oosthuizen hand down her ruling:

A condition of her release was that she should surrender her passport to the police and have no contact with witnesses.

State prosecutor Bheki Manyathi asked for bail to be set at R100 000, but Mapisa-Nqakula’s lawyer Graham Kerr-Phillips argued that this was unnecessarily high. Kerr-Phillips said the former National Assembly speaker could only afford R50 000.

The state plans to add another accused in the matter, who will be asked to hand themself over.

Proceedings were postponed to 4 June.

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

Allegations against Mapisa-Nqakula

Mapisa-Nqakula is facing 12 counts of corruption involving R4.5 million dating back to when she was defence minister.

She announced her resignation as speaker of Parliament on Wednesday evening in a letter to Acting Speaker of the National Assembly Lechesa Tsenoli. The resignation is effective immediately.

The Hawks, acting on behalf of the NPA’s Investigative Directorate (ID), raided Mapisa-Nqakula’s home in Johannesburg last month amid corruption allegations.

ALSO READ: Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to make first court appearance – NPA to request ‘substantial’ bail