Former defence and military veterans minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has given her account of an alleged bribe she is accused of receiving from defence contractor and state witness Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu, who claims the money was concealed inside a wig.
Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu previously told the court that she handed Mapisa-Nqakula R300,000 in cash at an airport, allegedly concealed beneath a physical wig. She claimed the payment formed part of a series of demands made by the former minister in exchange for assistance in securing departmental contracts, and alleged that terms such as “wig” and various references to sangomas were used as code for cash transactions.
Testifying before the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday, Mapisa-Nqakula gave her version of what happened during the encounter. She confirmed that the discussion about the wig began in September 2018 at the African Aerospace and Defence exhibition at Waterkloof Air Force Base, after she complimented Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu on her hairpiece.
Mapisa-Nqakula recalled telling Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu that she liked the wig, after which the contractor offered to buy one for her.
She explained that she rarely wears wigs, saying she usually opts for a headwrap or a shaved head, and was not even familiar with the difference between a wig and a weave. Because she was unfamiliar with wigs, Mapisa-Nqakula said she asked for something small, short and lightweight.
The wig was eventually delivered a year later, although Mapisa-Nqakula said she was not concerned by the delay.
On the day it was delivered, Mapisa-Nqakula was due to travel to Ethiopia when Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu met her in the VIP lounge at the airport. Although Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu arrived as Mapisa-Nakula was preparing to board her flight, the former minister said she waited for her.
Mapisa-Nqakula said the entire interaction lasted less than five minutes. She handed the package to an SANDF official identified as Zuki, who was to place it in her luggage, thanked Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu and then left to board her flight.
Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu had previously testified that Mapisa-Nqakula berated her during the airport encounter and forced her to apologise.
Mapisa-Nqakula rejected this version, saying she had no reason to be harsh towards someone who was giving her a gift.
“I’m not that kind of person,” Mapisa-Nqakula said. “Deep down in her heart, she knows I’ve never done this. I was already on my way to board the plane – I don’t know at what time I would have done that.”
According to Mapisa-Nqakula, the item was given to her in a small, transparent drawstring bag containing nothing other than the wig.
She later sent Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu a WhatsApp message thanking her for the gift. While Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu relied on the message as evidence that cash requests were allegedly disguised through the use of code words, Mapisa-Nqakula maintained that the word “wig” was being used literally.
Mapisa-Nqakula also rejected allegations relating to other cash handovers, including testimony from Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu that her sister and daughter had accompanied her on separate occasions to deliver money.
The court had previously heard evidence from Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu’s sister, Andiswa Ntsondwa-Joyi, who claimed she accompanied her sister to Mapisa-Nqakula’s Johannesburg home to deliver R400,000 in cash.
Joyi alleged that the payment was made because the former minister was constantly demanding money.
Mapisa-Nakula acknowledged meeting Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu at her home in February 2019 after the contractor returned from Ethiopia, but disputed who accompanied her.
She testified that Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu was accompanied by her cousin rather than the sister who later gave evidence in court.
Mapisa-Nqakula said she had never met Ntsondwa-Joyi and insisted that the sister had never visited her home.
According to Mapisa-Nqakula, she and Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu spoke on the patio during the February meeting, where the contractor opened up about personal difficulties involving her husband, then-SANDF deputy surgeon-general Maj-Gen Noel Ndhlovu, as well as problems involving her sister.
Mapisa-Nqakula said she explained that she could not become involved because of her position as minister and instead asked whether members of Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu’s family could intervene.
Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu then told Mapisa-Nqakula that she needed to undergo a traditional ceremony known as ukuparura, an ancestral cleansing process intended to help resolve her problems, and asked whether the former minister could assist her.
Mapisa-Nqakula said she declined to provide assistance but recommended a traditional healer who had previously initiated her son.
She testified that the conversation ended after this discussion.
Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu had testified that she would never confide in Mapisa-Nqakula because the two were not friends, a position Mapisa-Nqakula agreed with.
However, Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu also claimed that Mapisa-Nqakula had previously confided in her about her own marital difficulties.
Mapisa-Nqakula rejected this as impossible, saying she had people she could turn to for advice and would not seek guidance from someone considerably younger than her.
She also addressed an alleged cash handover involving Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu’s daughter, Lilitha, who had previously testified that she accompanied her mother to Mapisa-Nqakula’s home to make another delivery.
Mapisa-Nqakula disputed the account and said the meeting was instead related to media enquiries Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu had received from the Sunday Times.
She said she advised Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu to obtain legal representation and recommended three lawyers to her.
According to Mapisa-Nqakula, Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu and her daughter subsequently left her home.
Mapisa-Nqakula testified that this was the final occasion on which she and Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu spoke.
