Media Wire Express Correspondent
South African prosecutors said Monday they intend to charge the Parliament speaker with corruption, alleging she took $135,000 and a wig in bribes over three years while she was defence minister.
Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has not been arrested or charged. The prosecutors spoke at a court hearing over her claims that authorities hadn’t properly informed her of allegations or followed the correct procedure.
In court papers submitted for the hearing, prosecutors say Mapisa-Nqakula received 11 payments totalling $135,000 between December 2016 and July 2019. She sought another bribe of $105,000 but that wasn’t paid, prosecutors said.
On one occasion in February 2019, Mapisa-Nqakula received more than $15,000 and a wig at a meeting at the country’s main international airport, the papers say.
The person who allegedly paid the bribes was not named.
