By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The corruption case involving former National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was postponed to April 4.
Mapisa-Nqakula faces 12 counts of corruption and one count of money laundering.
The charges stem from allegations that she received millions of rands in cash bribes from a contractor linked to the South African National Defence Force.
The case was postponed in January after Mapisa-Nqakula filed an application requesting disclosures of Section B and Section C of the docket.
Section B and C deal with the correspondence and investigation diary.
Mapisa-Nqakula’s defence believes that the disclosure of the two Sections contains information that will vindicate her.
During the proceedings, the defence lawyer, Reg Willis said that the state has not fully kept up its end of the deal.
He said that the state has not disclosed Section C of the police docket which is the correspondence between the investigating officer and prosecution team.
Willis said that the state has also refused to handover the police recording of the raid at Mapisa-Nqakula’s home last year.
He further argued that the State did not follow due process in obtaining evidence against her.
State prosecutor Paul Louw said that information contained in section C was privileged and all relevant evidence had been disclosed.
“There is enough evidence, information and that there are certainly public interest exceptions that need to be protected in that situation.”
The matter has been adjourned to 4 April for a decision on the disclosure of further documents.
Meanwhile Graeme Hosken and Sam Sole for amaBhungane reported that they had obtained access to the affidavit implicating the Mapisa-Nqakula, and while it is untested in court and should be treated with caution, it provides a portrait of entitlement, bullying and corruption that appears entirely routine and matter of fact.
The affidavit was provided by defence tenderpreneur Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu in terms of Section 204 of the Criminal Procedure Act. She claims that the minister started demanding bribes after Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu approached Mapisa-Nqakula for help when one of her multimillion-rand contracts to provide logistics services to the Department of Defence hit a snag.
AmaBhungane further reports that Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu’s affidavit is so devastating that the defence will, of necessity, need to attack its legitimacy and Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu’s credibility.