Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula hands herself over to SAPS at Lyttelton police station
|Published
Embattled former Speaker of Parliament, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has handed herself over to police at the Lyttelton police station in Tshwane, amid a multi-million rand corruption investigation.
At around 7am, the SABC reported that two sport utility vehicles — an Audi Q7 and a black BMW X5 — arrived at the Lyttelton police station, transporting Mapisa-Nqakula.
She is anticipated to make an initial court appearance on Thursday, after being charged.
On Wednesday evening, Mapisa-Nqakula resigned from her National Assembly Speaker position, saying she wanted to focus on the ongoing investigation against her.
The resignation on Wednesday followed weeks of speculation on her future amid threats of arrest by the National Prosecuting Authority’s Investigating Directorate (ID).
Mapisa-Nqakula is accused of receiving more than R2.3 million in kickbacks from a defence contractor, during her tenure as South Africa’s defence minister.
According to prosecutors, Mapisa-Nqakula allegedly solicited R2.3 million in bribes and gratifications from a fraud-accused businesswoman who reportedly received R210 million in defence contracts.
On Tuesday, the High Court in Pretoria struck her urgent application to interdict the National Director of Public Prosecutions Shamila Batohi, Police Minister Bheki Cele and investigators from arresting her for the alleged graft off the roll.
Late on Wednesday, Mapisa-Nqakula said she had decided to quit to allow all legal processes to unfold.
However, she said her resignation was not an admission of guilt.
Mapisa-Nqakula submitted her resignation letter to acting speaker Lechesa Tsenoli on Wednesday.
IOL