The Pretoria High Court on Tuesday heard how former Defence Minister and ex-Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula had a tearful phone call and private meetings with defence contractor Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu – interactions the state says created a clear conflict of interest.
Prosecutor Advocate Emile van der Merwe questioned Mapisa-Nqakula about the nature of her relationship with the contractor during cross-examination in her corruption and money laundering trial.
Mapisa-Nqakula told the court that Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu had called her while crying, saying she was being prejudiced after being awarded a tender by the Defence Force, only for it to later be taken away.
Van der Merwe questioned why this conversation had not been put to Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu when she testified.
“I agree this was not said to her because she was not asked about it,” Mapisa-Nqakula responded.
The state is probing whether Mapisa-Nqakula’s private meetings with the contractor while she was Defence Minister violated the Executive Ethics Code contained in Proclamation No. R.41 of 2000, published in Government Gazette No. 21399 on 28 July 2000.
Van der Merwe put it to her that meeting privately with a contractor while accompanied by people connected to the Defence Department exposed her to a possible conflict of interest.
She denied this, maintaining she had no power to influence any decision relating to the contractor’s tender and that she did not intervene in Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu’s complaints.
“I could not influence decisions relating to Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu’s contract and I did not act on the contractor’s complaints,” she said.
The court also heard about gifts and alleged cash requests.
Van der Merwe questioned Mapisa-Nqakula about a wig she received from Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu. She acknowledged that she did not return the wig, donate it to the state or declare it.
She told the court she believed it was worth less than R1,000, while the contractor valued it at about R2,000.
The prosecution then turned to a meeting at Mapisa-Nqakula’s home in November 2017, where the state alleges she asked Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu for R150,000 to pay for a night nurse.
Mapisa-Nqakula denied asking for the money, telling the court she had spoken to the contractor about her father, whom she had learned was seriously ill.
Van der Merwe questioned why the conversation could not have taken place over the phone, given the circumstances surrounding the visit. Mapisa-Nqakula maintained that the meeting also involved a discussion about Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu’s marriage.
She described the relationship between the two as partly based on the fact that they were both sangomas, while their professional relationship was that she was the Defence Minister and Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu was a contractor doing business with the department.
Van der Merwe also questioned Mapisa-Nqakula about payments of R2,000 and R10,000 made to her former assistant on different occasions. The reasons for the payments remained unclear from the evidence heard in court.
Mapisa-Nqakula is facing 12 counts of corruption and one count of money laundering. The prosecution alleges she solicited about R4.5 million from Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu between 2016 and 2019, including about R2.1 million allegedly received in cash, in exchange for keeping the contractor’s R210-million SANDF logistics contract alive despite irregularities.
She denies the allegations.
The former Speaker resigned from Parliament in April 2024 after the Investigating Directorate executed search and seizure operations at her Johannesburg home. She has pleaded not guilty, arguing the payments were loans or gifts between friends and that she never used her office to benefit the contractor.
The trial continues in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.
