The Pretoria High Court dismissed the Parliament Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula's bid to interdict the National Prosecuting Authority's Investigative Directorate from arresting her, with costs on Tuesday morning.
Judge Sulet Potterill said the application is not urgent as the state indicated previously that they would not oppose bail and that Mapisa-Nqakula had two weeks to hand herself over to the Lyttleton Police station in Pretoria, in the presence of her attorney.
Mapisa-Nqakula's defence argued that she not be arrested owing to her status, but Potterill said there were no grounds to bring an urgent application as the arrest had not happened yet.
"Granting this application would open the gates for every normal person to bring an application to evade arrest," says Potterill
Poterill also shared that in her affidavit Mapisa-Nqakula used a lot of emotive language and the court battled to get to the facts.
Algoa FM News previously reported that the Speaker was implicated in an affidavit submitted to the ID by the owner of Umk'hoba Marine suggesting that while she was Minister of Defence, she solicited and received millions of rand in cash bribes delivered in gift bags between 2016 and 2019 for freight and logistics services for the South African National Defence Forces (SANDF).
Since the search and seizure, various political parties called upon the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members Interests to conduct a swift, impartial, and comprehensive investigation into the allegations of corruption against the Speaker.
The DA has also called on the Speaker to be voted out by a motion of no confidence to be debated immediately.
Chief Whip of the DA Siviwe Gwarube said in a statement on Tuesday that Parliament has a responsibility to hold the Speaker to account.
"Once a motion has been tabled, it has to be deliberated on and voted on without delay, the rules of the National Assembly demand," she said.
Also read: https://www.algoafm.co.za/domestic/search-and-seizure-operation-carried-out-at-house-of-speaker
