In the latest controversy to rock the ruling African National Congress party ahead of May elections, the former speaker of South Africa’s parliament was taken into custody on Thursday in connection with a graft investigation.
Prosecutors stated that Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who quit her position as speaker on Wednesday, was placed under official arrest after turning herself in to police in the Pretoria area.
According to National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Henry Mamothame, the ANC veteran was scheduled to go before a judge and face official charges of corruption and money laundering, as previously reported by AFP.
“She’s appearing at the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court,” Mamothame said.
Amid allegations of government corruption and inefficiency, the ANC is facing difficulties in opinion polls and a sluggish economy. The case has come just under two months before national elections.
The president and vice president of the African National Congress, among other prominent ANC politicians, had been implicated in corruption scandals before Mapisa-Nqakula.
The 67-year-old is charged with asking a former military contractor for large sums of money in bribery when she was the defense minister.
She refutes the accusations.
Note of resignation
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 reaffirmed her innocence in a letter of resignation, but she claimed she was stepping down to protect the integrity of parliament and concentrate on the investigation against her.
“Given the seriousness of the much-publicised allegations against me, I cannot continue in this role,” she wrote.
The action came after a raid in March at Mapisa-Nqakula’s home, an upscale mansion in an eastern Johannesburg neighborhood, by members of a top investigative team.
According to claims in the local media, she had allegedly asked a former military contractor for bribes worth 2.3 million rand ($121,000).
Lechesa Tsenoli, her deputy, will take her place, according to Parliament.
However, the Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party, demanded on Thursday that a new speaker be chosen immediately.
Mapisa-Nqakula was the defense minister from 2014 to 2021. The opposition was quite critical of Mapisa-Nqakula’s appointment as speaker.
She was being criticized at the time for what was thought to be inept handling of a wave of violent disturbances that claimed over 300 lives.
On May 29, South Africans will cast ballots in both national and local elections.
For the first time since democracy began in 1994, the ANC is predicted to see its vote share fall below 50%, which would force it to form a coalition with other parties in order to stay in office.
