Former National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s corruption and money laundering trial continued at the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday, where she denied claims that defence contractor Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu gave her more than R800,000.
During cross-examination, counsel questioned Mapisa-Nqakula about several alleged payments, including R400,000 allegedly given in April 2019 and R100,000 in July 2019.
She denied receiving both amounts.
“In fact, I deny ever being given money by Nombasa. She herself knows that,” Mapisa-Nqakula said.
Under Count 10, she was questioned about an alleged transfer of money in US dollars, which was converted into approximately R150,000 to facilitate her travel to the United States.
She denied receiving the money, as well as a separate alleged payment of more than R300,000 and a wig from Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu.
The cross-examination also turned to Mapisa-Nqakula’s financial affairs, including the Edge Bay company, which she identified as one of her sources of income alongside her salary.
She said she received dividends from the company and maintained that there was nothing she was concealing about its transactions.
“There is nothing I’m hiding about it,” she said.
Counsel also questioned her about outstanding payments to builders who had worked on her house.
Mapisa-Nqakula explained that she had continued making payments beyond 2021, although a few thousand rand remained outstanding.
She said she had intended to use her pension money to settle the remaining renovation costs.
“One of my plans was that from my pension, I was not only going to sort out the issue of renovation or the issue of the house,” she said.
She began receiving her pension in 2024 but explained that she could not communicate with Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu at the time because she was a witness.
Mapisa-Nqakula said her pension funds had since been exhausted by legal representation expenses. She maintained that the builders would eventually be paid, even if her children had to assist.
Another issue raised during cross-examination concerned money collected through Bidvest.
Mapisa-Nqakula denied personally visiting the company to collect money, explaining that departmental procedures required accompanying officials to receive documentation from the finance department authorising them to collect funds on behalf of travelling officials.
“There was never an incident where I personally went to get money from Bidvest,” she said.
She explained that the person travelling with her would receive documentation from finance, together with a list of officials travelling, to collect the money on their behalf.
Counsel questioned whether the money had been registered in her name or against her passport number. Mapisa-Nqakula said she did not know.
She also addressed the requirements for declaring gifts received during international travel as a diplomat, saying such gifts were supposed to be declared to Parliament.
The cross-examination further touched on discussions involving Noel Ndhlovu and succession.
Mapisa-Nqakula disputed that Ndhlovu had been discussed during the particular conversation about the succession process.
She maintained that Ndhlovu had been discussed before that conversation and that the later discussion concerned the procedures followed before considering a “pool of names”.
The trial continues.