Mapisa-Nqakula leaped before being prodded by a possible no-confidence vote in Parliament, following the failure to stop her incarceration.
Speaker of the National Assembly Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has resigned, “effective immediately.”
This occurs just before she was supposed to turn herself in to the police or be taken into custody on corruption charges involving a defense contractor that might have cost millions of dollars.
“Today, the 3rd of April, I have submitted to the Acting Speaker of the National Assembly, Lechesa Tsenoli, my letter of resignation as both speaker of the National Assembly and a member of Parliament of the Republic of South Africa,” stated Mapisa-Nqakula in her resignation letter.
The resignation “is in no way an indication or admission of guilt,” she continues in her letter.
“This decision has been made with the intention of maintaining the integrity and sanctity of our Parliament,” states Mapisa-Nqakula.
Since rumors began to circulate that she might be arrested following a police raid at her home, she has been on self-assigned special leave for the past two weeks.
Interdict Against Arrest Fails
This action follows Judge Sulet Potterill’s rejection of her request to have her arrest for the corruption charges stayed on Tuesday, April 2, along with costs.
“If the court grants such an order, the floodgates will be opened,” Potterill declared in her verdict at the Pretoria High Court, implying that suspects would exploit the precedent to halt their upcoming arrests.
“The wheels of justice will now be in motion,” National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson advocate Mthunzi Mhaga told the media following the decision. Potterill had claimed that no illegal acts against Mapisa-Nqakula required an immediate interdict.
“We have always insisted that we didn’t need to be taken to court since this [Mapisa-Nqakula’s request to halt an arrest] was unprecedented. We’ve always insisted that the arrest procedure had to go smoothly,” Mhaga stated.
History of the Mapisa-nqakula Case
Police and the NPA claim that Mapisa-Nqakula asked Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu, the CEO of defense contractor Umkhombe Marine, for millions of dollars in bribes between 2012 and 2019. The bribes included wigs and handbags worth a total of R4 million.
During Mapisa-Nqakula’s administration, Umkhombe Marine is purported to have obtained R210 million in defense contracts from the SANDF.
Police raided the National Assembly speaker’s residence in Bruma, Johannesburg, on March 19. During the raid, evidence was taken into custody, and when there were rumors of an impending arrest, Mapisa-Nqakula filed the urgent interdict request that was denied on Tuesday.
No-confidence Motion and “Special Leave”
She took a special leave of absence from her role as speaker two days later.
“I made this decision on my own to preserve Parliament’s honor, its sacred mission, and its reputation,” the speaker stated.
Following that, Tsenoli declared that he had agreed to the motion of no-confidence put out by DA Chief Whip Siviwe Gwarube.
“The National Assembly may remove the Speaker or Deputy Speaker from office by resolution, with a majority of Assembly members present when the resolution is adopted,” a statement from Parliament stated, citing Section 54(2) of the Constitution.
Although the present Parliament’s term is scheduled to finish at midnight on May 21, just days before the general elections scheduled for May 29, 2024, the date of the motion has not yet been confirmed.
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