Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, the former speaker of the National Assembly, has been granted R50,000 bail by the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court.
A day after she resigned from her position as speaker, Mapisa-Nqakula was charged on Thursday with corruption and money laundering.
“There are twelve counts of corruption and one count of money laundering against Ms. Mapisa-Nqakula,” Bheki Manyathi of the National Prosecuting Authority informed the court.
The ANC veteran chose to say nothing while sitting in the dock, dressed in a yellow and blue dress with a matching head covering, while her attorney asked to be released on bail.
She stated, “I’m not at flight risk,” in a statement that her attorney, Graham Kerr-Phillips, read. She went on to say, “I will receive a state pension which I cannot afford to lose,” and she said the evidence against her was poor.
A day after failing in her legal attempt to stop her potential arrest, Mapisa-Nqakula resigned on Wednesday, effective immediately, from both her position as speaker and legislator.
She is charged with accepting bribes of R2.3 million from a former military contractor while serving as the defense minister.
If Mapisa-Nqakula is imprisoned, she worries that it will harm her family’s and her own reputation.
She promises to follow bail guidelines because she is afraid of being assumed guilty and because she could be harmed in police custody.
The former minister said in her statement that she had serious hypertension and needed to take medicine constantly.
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