ZELDA VENTER

THE main corruption trial of former National Assembly speaker, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, could kick off soon if her defence and the prosecution can find common ground on further particulars she said she needed in order to prepare for her trial.

Mapisa-Nqakula was back in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria on Monday where her legal team was due to argue for an application for further particulars which were contained in the case docket.

The prosecution previously vigorously opposed handing her all the further details her team had requested.

But shortly before the proceedings started on Monday, both legal teams met with Judge Papi Mosopa in chambers, where it was agreed that they would meet during the next three weeks to see whether they could find common ground on what further details would be supplied to her and which would not.

Her team had received part A of the case docket, but the defence team also wanted documents listed in parts B and C.

Her lawyer told the court that they would not proceed with their application at this stage, as they accepted in good faith that the prosecution would meet with them to try and iron out the issues.

The court was told that this agreement was made in the interest of justice.

The matter was postponed to March 28, when the court will be informed whether they had reached common ground.

If they cannot see eye to eye regarding the further documents, the defence will argue their application in this regard. But if the defence is satisfied with the documents supplied to them, a date will be determined for the main trial to start.

Judge Mosopa reminded Mapisa-Nqakula, who is out on R50, 000 bail, to strictly adhere to her bail conditions.

The charges against her relate to her tenure between 2016 and 2019 when she was minister of defence. Mapisa-Nqakula allegedly solicited R4,5 million from a service provider of the Department of Defence and Military Veterans.

The summary of facts contained in the indictment states that Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu - the State's star witness - was at the time of the alleged offences, the sole director of Umkhombe Marine Pty Ltd.

The core business of Umkhombe was to provide logistics services to the South African National Defence Force on a procurement basis.

In February 2016, Umkhombe was awarded a contract to the value of R104 million by the SANDF.

A few days after the award of this contract, Nombasa was informed by the SANDF that the contract was suspended.

In an effort to rectify the situation, Nombasa contacted certain people, and she was provided with Mapisa-Nqakula's contact number.

According to the indictment, Nombasa called the former Speaker about the suspended contract and the latter undertook to investigate the matter.

On or about November 2016, Mapisa-Nqakula allegedly requested the late Secretary of Defence, Dr Sam Gulube, to approach Nombasa and ask her for R300, 000.

Nombasa allegedly handed R300, 000 in cash to Gulube a few days later.

It is claimed that a second request was made by Gulube on behalf of the accused for an amount of R400, 000.

Nombasa apparently decided not to pay, and instead sought a meeting with Mapisa-Nqakula.

In December 2016, one Nozuko arranged with Nombasa for her to meet the accused at the InterContinental Hotel at OR Tambo International Airport, the indictment read.

It is alleged that during this meeting, Mapisa-Nqakula confirmed that she had indeed sent Gulube to Nombasa to ask for both the R300, 000 and R400, 000.

It was allegedly agreed that all future engagements would be directly between Mapisa-Nqakula and Nombasa.

It is alleged by the prosecution that between December 2016 and July 2019, the accused asked for cash payments and a wig from Nombasa.

It is claimed that of the R4, 550, 000 asked for by Mapisa-Nqakula, Nombasa paid a total of R2,150, 000 in cash to her.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za