South Africa: Speaker Mapisa-Nqakula's Home Raided - Ramaphosa Sidesteps Questions On State Capture Inaction

Source: allAfrica

South Africa: Speaker Mapisa-Nqakula's Home Raided - Ramaphosa Sidesteps Questions On State Capture Inaction

Any action against ministers and deputy ministers implicated in State Capture would be informed by 'outcomes of the processes undertaken by the relevant entities' with investigative and prosecutorial capacities, President Cyril Ramaphosa told MPs on Tuesday.

The presidential Q&A session in the National Assembly played out just hours after the Investigating Directorate (ID) raided the Johannesburg home of House Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on Tuesday, 19 March.

While the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) confirmed in a short statement that the search and seizure operation was part of an investigation, it gave no further details.

The raid is widely understood to relate to allegations by a former defence contractor that Mapisa-Nqakula had solicited R2.3-million in bribes between 2017 and 2019 while she was defence minister.

DA leader John Steenhuisen grabbed the politicking opportunity in the Q&A session to link the raid to President Cyril Ramaphosa's much-promised yet uncompleted executive lifestyle audits.

"Your failure is what has facilitated this alleged corruption by the Speaker. You are the reason we are sitting with a corruption-alleged deputy president, the Speaker's house raided, and a Cabinet that reads like a Zondo most wanted list."

In a second shot at asking if Ramaphosa would support the Speaker stepping aside, Steenhuisen didn't get further than saying a raid was a serious matter before the ANC closed ranks in what's become a tactic to make political pickles go away.