Twelve counts of corruption and one count of money laundering have been brought against Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, the former speaker of parliament for South Africa.
On Thursday morning, she turned herself in to a police station and made her first court appearance.
During her tenure as the defense minister, the politician is charged of accepting bribes in exchange for contract awards.
In court, she disputed any wrongdoing and declared, “I do not have a propensity to commit crime.”
But there was “ample evidence” against Ms. Mapisa-Nqakula, prosecutor Bheki Manyathi told the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court.
On bail, she was set free.
Ms. Mapisa-Nqakula resigned on Wednesday following weeks of inquiries, but she said that this was not a “indication or admission of guilt.”
She stated that she could not continue in her capacity due to the “seriousness” of the probe.
Ms. Mapisa-Nqakula should be applauded for making the decision to resign, according to President Cyril Ramaphosa, who stated this on Thursday.
“We should recognise that her level of integrity for our democracy has made her do this,” stated the politician.
In relation to the corruption probe, a special police unit searched her Johannesburg residence last month.
Speaker of the House since 2021 is the 67-year-old African National Congress (ANC) veteran. She was the minister of defense for seven years prior to that.
Asserting that Ms. Mapisa-Nqakula’s arrest would violate her dignity, her attorneys filed a plea for a court injunction to stop her detention last week.
Judges denied her request on Tuesday, citing the lack of urgency and their inability to make assumptions about an unspecified arrest.
The Business Day newspaper claims that Ms. Mapisa-Nqakula is accused of making multiple demands on a firm owner for $120,000 (£96,000) in order to obtain a contract to transfer army equipment from other parts of the continent back to South Africa.
This corruption scandal is the most recent in a long string that has rocked the ANC.
The remarkable aspect of this case is how quickly Ms. Mapisa-Nqakula resigned.
Given that she has spared the party from having to publicly defend her, her choice to step down probably caused some ANC members to feel relieved.
Her choice was formally applauded by the ANC, which said it appreciated her dedication to upholding the organization’s reputation.
At best, the former speaker’s case is embarrassing; at worst, it might be extremely detrimental to the ANC.
Elections at the end of May are expected to be brutal for the party, according to polls, with some predictions indicating it may lose its majority for the first time.
The ANC, which has ruled since 1994, is frequently accused of misusing public funds and engaging in corruption, which has turned into a major election issue.
