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Mapisa-Nqakula’s resignation spares ANC embarrassment of having to publicly defend her

Mapisa-Nqakula’s resignation spares ANC embarrassment of having to publicly defend her
Marianne Merten
By Marianne Merten
3 Apr 2024
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Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, defence minister turned National Assembly Speaker, has done what few ANC public representatives ever do — resign when facing dodgy dealing claims. This should set an example, but the resignation happened after she lost the confidence and protection of the ANC.

By resigning, the now ex-National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has relieved her party, the ANC, of the potential pickle of defending her in the DA’s motion of no confidence debate. And as she no longer is an MP, the complaint to the parliamentary ethics committee in connection with the corruption saga has also fallen away.

In her two-page resignation statement under the Parliament letterhead, Mapisa-Nqakula said, “My resignation is in no way an indication or admission of guilt regarding the allegations being levelled against me...”

When the time was right, she said, she would address those allegations — 12 corruption counts involving R4.55-million in bribes allegedly solicited from a contractor between 2017 and 2019 while she was defence minister. That emerged in papers filed at the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Pretoria when Mapisa-Nqakula made an interdict and discovery application.

On Tuesday, the court struck the application off the urgent roll, effectively clearing the way for Mapisa-Nqakula to be arrested, or to hand herself over to the police to be brought to court for a bail application. While the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) maintains it does not discuss arrests in public ahead of time, it’s on public record that the Investigating Directorate (ID) would not oppose bail.

“Given the public trust entrusted in me as a Speaker of our National Assembly and the need for me to protect the image of our organisation, the ANC, I have an obligation, despite the principle that I should be deemed innocent, to step down from my office,” Mapisa-Nqakula said on Wednesday afternoon.

She maintained her innocence, as she’s done since the 19 March ID raid at her Johannesburg home. Then the ANC in Parliament moved to shield her, arguing that no action was required as processes still needed to unfold.

Holding the line


That could have remained the line — it was held when it came to former president Jacob Zuma over the Nkandla saga. It is being held in connection with ANC legislator Mosebenzi Zwane, who’s on trial over the Free State Estina dairy corruption saga, and fellow ANC MP Bongani Bongo, who was charged over a corrupt Mpumalanga land deal. Their only acts of contrition were to step down as chairpersons of the transport and home affairs committees, respectively.

The line would have been held by the ANC had it come to a no-confidence motion; the governing party’s attitude is that it will not have others force its hand, regardless of right or wrong.

When President Cyril Ramaphosa promoted Mapisa-Nqakula to National Assembly Speaker in his August 2021 reshuffle, he would have been aware of the defence ministry corruption saga — it emerged in 2019 — and her questionable conduct in office when he fined her three months’ salary for giving ANC members a lift to Harare in an air force plane some 10 months earlier.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Speaker’s corruption saga another nail in coffin of public trust in government

By resigning as Speaker and MP, Mapisa-Nqakula has spared her party any possible embarrassment of having to publicly defend one of their own who privately had lost the confidence of the party.

On Wednesday, the ANC’s alliance partner Cosatu said it would have been untenable for her to remain in the post.

“We support this decision to spare Parliament, the ANC and the nation the spectacle currently unfolding with regards to the investigation of corruption allegations against her,” the labour federation said. “Her decision to step back and resign is a correct one for her, Parliament and the nation.”

On Human Rights Day, Mapisa-Nqakula took special leave as the furore over the corruption claims failed to go away. It wasn’t enough — despite the fact that on election day, 29 May, her public political life would have been over as she’s not on the ANC election candidates lists.

‘Not an admission of guilt’


On Wednesday, opposition parties welcomed her resignation, as did the ANC, which described her resignation as a commitment to “maintaining the image of our organisation” and “promote proactive responsibility-taking among members, rather than waiting for instructions to step aside”.

The ANC parliamentary caucus said it respected her decision to resign to protect Parliament’s integrity. “The ANC caucus also affirms Comrade Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s assertion that her resignation is not an admission of guilt of the allegations against her.”

Alliance partner the South African Communist Party (SACP) welcomed the resignation as “correctly sensitive to the comprehensive spirit, viewed purposively, of the ‘step aside’ resolutions adopted by the ANC with the support of the SACP and other ANC-led alliance partners, as well as most South Africans”.

In a 157-word statement, Parliament confirmed the Speaker’s resignation. “The acting Speaker [Lechesa Tsenoli] of the National Assembly extends gratitude to Ms Mapisa-Nqakula for her service to the nation over her 30-year tenure as a Member of Parliament and, most recently, in her role as Speaker of the National Assembly since 19 August 2021.”

DA Chief Whip Siviwe Gwarube welcomed the resignation. “We believe that anyone who holds this high office should be beyond reproach, and Ms Mapisa-Nqakula is not suited for it,” Gwarube said.

“This resignation is a victory for accountability and Parliament. And by extension, the people of South Africa. Parliament cannot be a refuge for some of the worst among us. Those entrusted to lead and represent South Africa must be up to the task.”

The EFF, which called for her resignation earlier this week, also welcomed it.

The IFP said Mapisa-Nqakula’s resignation was a “responsible” decision. “The IFP maintains that the law must apply without any fear or favour, and we implore the former Speaker to subject herself to the legal processes until their legal and logical conclusion,” it said.

Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Groenewald also welcomed the resignation. “She had no choice... She was supposed to be a symbol of respect, of integrity, of honesty. She violated all these principles...”

Parliament’s integrity


A focus on Parliament’s integrity emerged in Mapisa-Nqakula’s resignation statement as it had in the statement about her going on special leave.

“Given the seriousness of the much-publicised allegations against me, I cannot continue in this role. As a country’s chief lawmaker, I hold a central responsibility to protect and preserve the integrity of Parliament by ensuring that my actions ensure that its sacred work must continue without blemish,” she said.

Yet one of the matters that has not gone away is the DA complaint to the powers and privileges committee to probe Mapisa-Nqakula’s role alongside that of National Council of Provinces Chairperson Amos Masondo in almost doubling the secretary to Parliament’s R2.6-million salary within six months.

Mapisa-Nqakula’s resignation as Speaker, effectively the head of the legislative sphere of state, is unprecedented.

It remains to be seen whether this is the accountability moment for Parliament as the institution constitutionally required to oversee the government and hold it to account. Next month’s elections will have a role in that.

Court appearance

Mapisa-Nqakula appeared in the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, 4 April to face 12 charges of corruption and one charge of money laundering.

Her husband, Charles Ngakula, and former National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete sat in the first row of courtroom 8 in a show of support.

Mbete, who is no stranger to controversy herself, has previously spoken out in defence of Mapisa-Nqakula, saying the corruption allegations were part of a vendetta to discredit her.

After entering the courtroom and taking a seat on the bench, Mapisa-Nqakula flashed an appreciative smile at her husband and Mbete. DM

This article was updated at 12pm on 4 April 2024 to include Mapisa-Nqakula’s court appearance.

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