PRETORIA - Former Parliament Speaker and Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has denied soliciting bribes from a contractor.
She faces 12 counts of corruption and one count of money laundering.
Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndlovu told the court Mapisa-Nqakula demanded and received R4.5-million in bribes in return for a defence contract worth hundreds of rands.
READ: Code name 'wigs': Court hears Mapisa-Nqakula threated to clear tender funds
Mapisa-Nqakula says key aspects of Ntsondwa-Ndlovu's testimony are improbable.
Ntsondwa-Ndlovu admitted the alleged payments she made to Mapisa-Nqakula were unlawful and amounted to criminal conduct.
Under cross-examination, however, the defence highlighted glaring inconsistencies between her testimony and a letter General Bantu Holomisa wrote to Parliament after she allegedly confided in him in December 2020.
Among them is an alleged R200,000 payment to Mapisa-Nqakula that does not appear in Holomisa's letter to SCOPA. Along with two other alleged payments in March and June that the defence says do not fit her timeline.
She was asked why she never mentioned the alleged R2-million bribe demand she says Mapisa-Nqakula made in September 2018 to secure her husband's promotion.
It has also labelled as improbable her claim that she paid the late Defence Secretary Sam Gulube R300,000 in December 2016. She was questioned on why she made the payment when, by her own account, she had no relationship with Mapisa-Nqakula at the time.
Mapisa-Nqakula has denied demanding or receiving bribes, insisting she had no involvement in the Department's procurement processes.
- eNCA's Manqoba Mchunu reports.