The South African Police Service may arrest National Assembly speaker, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, after a high court on Tuesday rejected an urgent application by the graft-accused parliamentarian.
Mapisa-Nqakula is accused of seeking substantial sums in bribes from a former military contractor when she was defence minister between 2014 and 2021 before being appointed speaker.
She sought an urgent application in March to evade arrest which she described as “illegal”.
“This court is not a means to declare an arrest which has not taken place unlawful or that it would be unlawful or explain a view thereon,” presiding judge Sulet Potterill said.
“I am therefore not granting this order,” the judge added.
Granting the order would mean “the flood gates will be open” and every suspect would approach the court on “an urgent basis setting out on speculation that there is a weak case against it and interdict an arrest”.
Potterill stated that Mapisa-Nqakula had access to legal representation in the “pre-arrest” stage and that state authorities had been “lenient” with her “and let two weeks go by” since a raid on her residence.
With national elections coming on May 29, the raid adds to the woes of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), which is struggling to redeem its image ahead of the elections despite several allegations of graft and misappropriation.
The ANC is at risk of falling below 50 percent of the vote for the first time since it came to power at the end of apartheid in 1994.
State detectives raided the residence of Mapisa-Nqakula last month as part of an investigation, with which she had vowed to fully cooperate. However, she announced she would take “special leave” shortly after.