Mapisa-Nqakula says she's not flight risk as she applies for bail

In her bid for bail, former National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has told the Pretoria magistrate's court that she is not a flight risk and would not evade trial as that would result in her losing her pension.

Mapisa-Nqakula is appearing in court on Thursday after she handed herself over to police on Thursday morning.

She is accused of corruption and money laundering in 2016 when she was still minister of defence. 

Mapisa-Nqakula is facing 12 counts of corruption for allegedly soliciting and receiving bribes from a service provider while she was the minister.

The bribes, allegedly worth about R4.5m, include a wig which was seized when investigators raided her Joburg home last month. They also took away several documents.

Mapisa-Nqakula told the court she did not know what evidence the state had against her, except for a statement from a section 204 witness, presumably in exchange for her fraud charges to be dropped.

The evidence given by the section 204 witness, she said, has not been corroborated by the search and seizure operation at her home.

The only item found at her home relating to what the witness said was a wig, one of many she had.

“I don’t know why that wig was taken in the seizure,” Mapisa-Nqakula said.

She resigned a speaker on Wednesday, just a day after she lost a bid to interdict her arrest on the bases that she is a senior citizen and that the state has a weak case against her.

The case continues.