Latest news with #NosiviweMapisaNqakula
Mail & Guardian
3 days ago
- Business
- Mail & Guardian
‘You have not abandoned me,' Maphisa-Nqakula tells uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association
Former parliamentary speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on Thursday thanked the uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) for allowing her to speak at a public ANC event for the first time since her arrest last year. (Photo by Darren Stewart/Gallo Images via Getty Images) Former parliamentary speaker By being criminally charged, Mapisa-Nqakula was subjected to the ANC's She is facing 12 counts of corruption and one of money laundering for receiving R2.5 million from December 2016 to July 2019 from a former She was speaking in Gauteng at the memorial lecture of Mapisa-Nqakula said: 'I want to thank you for that because you have not abandoned me, and at least you haven't judged me.' She also expressed her disappointment at some ANC leaders who left the party to join the Mapisa-Nqakula said she was 'very sad' to see that some of her comrades had decided to join the MK party, including one of her commanders in uMkhoto weSizwe, the military wing of the ANC during apartheid. 'I'm concerned; my view is that comrades, not everybody is there because they want to be there,' she said. 'There are generals there; don't give up on the many comrades who have gone to the MK party because they don't belong there; uMkhonto is here in the ANC.' Despite her problems in the ANC, she vowed to remain a member until her death. 'Even in my house, they know, Comrade SG [party secretary general 'Whatever I may be, my coffin must be draped in green, black and gold. I fought for this country, and I fought because I believe in what the ANC stands for.' Mbalula warned ANC members not to focus on those who have left the party and joined the MK party, accusing them of being people who 'don't exist and who stole our thing'. The MK party takes its name from the now-disbanded armed wing of the ANC, which had also accused the MK party of copyright infringement. Last year in March, the ANC failed in a legal bid to stop the MK party from contesting the 24 May elections after it argued that Zuma's party had not met the official registration criteria. This was dismissed by the electoral court but the ANC was granted an appeal. Mbalula said the more the ANC speaks about the MK party, the more they build it. 'Let's talk about what we do; uMkhonto weSizwe is not dead; it's still alive; let it show that it's alive. We must fix what needs to be fixed for war veterans of our uMkhonto weSizwe.' He said those people who had left the ANC to join the MK party would soon regret their decision. 'Let it be clear that we are leading the government, and we are not being led. Let it be clear that we are leading to improve the lives of our war veterans.' The ANC received 16.99% of the votes in KwaZulu-Natal in the 2024 elections, down from 54.22% in the 2019 general elections. Because of Zuma's popularity and support from traditional ANC voters, the MK party scored 45.35% of the vote in KwaZulu-Natal. ANC Veterans League deputy president 'That quantity moved across to form this thing, Zuma's party. Why did we allow this thing to be formed?', stating also that the MK name should not be associated with the likes of Zuma. The veterans league and MKMVA are separate organisations. ANC Women's League president 'Today we have to bear with liars, people who are not thankful, and today we are being insulted and called names because there are people who thought this movement was for them and their children.'
News24
09-05-2025
- Politics
- News24
Former defence minister Mapisa-Nqakula enlists new legal team
Former National Assembly speaker and defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was back in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Friday. Mapisa-Nqakula is accused of taking R2.3 million worth of bribes from businesswoman Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu during her tenure as minister. On Friday, her former counsel, advocate Reg Willis, said their mandate had been terminated. Graft-accused former National Assembly speaker and defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has enlisted the services of a new legal team. Mapisa-Nqakula made another appearance in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Friday, where her previous counsel, advocate Reg Willis SC, instructed by attorney Stephen May, announced that their mandate had been terminated. Going forward, Mapisa-Nqakula will be represented by advocate Cronje Kriel, instructed by Makhi Nogaga. Mapisa-Nqakula was arrested last April and charged with 12 counts of corruption and one of money laundering. She is accused of pocketing some R2.3 million worth of bribes from businesswoman Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu between December 2016 and July 2019, during her tenure as minister. Mapisa-Nqakula had launched an urgent application in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to try and halt her arrest in the run-up thereto, but it was dismissed. She stepped down from her position as speaker against the backdrop of the case and was last in the dock a month ago, when an application she had brought to have access to the full docket against her – including the investigation record, instructions to the investigating officer and an index of all the evidence – was refused. The court on Friday also heard that representations made by Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu in her own fraud case had still not been finalised. The case was withdrawn against Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu in 2024 on the back of a successful unreasonable delay application, and she subsequently filed representations with the National Director of Public prosecutions (NDPP). Mapisa-Nqakula has applied for access to the entire docket in that case as well, but that application is now effectively on ice pending the NDPP's decision. The court heard on Friday that a decision was expected next week. In the interim, the case has now been postponed until 20 June, with Mapisa-Nqakula out on bail of R50 000 in the meantime.
