Speaker of parliament Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is being investigated in connection with allegations that while she was defence minister she was paid millions of rands in cash bribes by a South African National Defence Force (SANDF) contractor.
The Sunday Times has learnt of a high-level investigation into the accusations that Mapisa-Nqakula solicited and was paid up to R2.3m in cash, delivered in gift bags by defence industry businesswoman Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu, the wife of a general in the SANDF’s military health service.
It is understood that the investigation began six months ago and was known to only a select few within the Investigating Directorate (ID). It is at an advanced stage with statements implicating Mapisa-Nqakula already secured. In her explosive, sworn, affidavit Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu accuses Mapisa-Nqakula of making several demands for cash, initially through the late secretary of defence Sam Gulube and then directly, and that some of the discussions were conducted via text and WhatsApp.
Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu details how between November 2016 and July 2019 she personally handed over more than R2.3m in cash on 10 different occasions. Venues allegedly included OR Tambo International Airport, Mapisa-Nqakula’s home in Bruma and an air show at Waterkloof military base in Pretoria.
The two allegedly developed various code words for the money, calling it “wigs”, “impepho” (incense), “imithi ” (medicine) and “snuff”.
It is understood that Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu’s statement was given under section 204 of the Criminal Procedures Act, which allows for a witness to incriminate themselves and co-operate with the prosecuting authority in return for immunity from prosecution.
Andrea Johnson, the head of the ID, said on Saturday: “The ID does not comment on any investigations, nor does the ID discuss any investigations with the national director of public prosecutions, the minister or the president.”
When contacted, Mapisa-Nqakula said she had no knowledge of an investigation into her.
“If that is what you are saying, [that] I am being investigated, I expect that I will be questioned by the directorate and if I am being charged I will be taken to court. And then I will speak for myself,” she said. “But I do know Nombasa, and I have met her.” Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu refused to comment when approached on Friday. Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu made headlines in 2019 when the Sunday Times reported that her company, Umkhombe Marine, scored R210m in SANDF contracts, while she was married to Maj-Gen Noel Ndhlovu.
At the time military police were investigating whether her husband played a role in awarding the contracts, which were for transport of SANDF cargo, including vehicles, to missions on the African continent and back.
In her affidavit she said her husband at first did not know about the cash payments, and expressed disapproval once she informed him about it. Ntsondwa-Ndlovu was subsequently arrested and charged with fraud related to the contracts. The Sunday Times learnt that the case against Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu was struck off the roll on Friday.
According to her affidavit, her first contact with the then defence minister began in 2016 when experiencing frustration with the suspension of a R104m tender her company had been awarded to transport cargo to Sudan. “After having explained my concerns and frustrations to the minister, she undertook to look into the matter and revert. She unfortunately never reverted to me,” she said.
If that is what you are saying, [that] I am being investigated, I expect that I will be questioned by the directorate and if I am being charged I will be taken to court. And then I will speak for myself
— Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula
The first request and payment of the cash bribes, she recalled in her affidavit, was through Gulube in November 2016. He told her that the minister had requested R300,000 from her.
“I asked Dr Gulube what was the purpose of that requested R300,000 and in doing so, I was cautious not to sound disrespectful to him as an elder who was representing the minister, but his answer was in essence that the minister was due to travel to her home in East London, she needed to cater for her family’s travel arrangements,” she said.
Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu says she became wary when a few weeks later, in “mid-December”, she was again summoned to Gulube’s home, where she was told the minister wanted a further R400,000. After this request, she said, she reached out to another SANDF general, Derrick Mgwebi, and confided in him.
A week later Mgwebi told her to expect a call from the minister’s office to arrange a face-to-face meeting with Mapisa-Nqakula. The call came a day or two later, and the meeting was set for the InterContinental hotel at OR Tambo. She went to the meeting alone.
Mgwebi declined to comment when contacted on Saturday.
Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu says the meeting began with pleasantries such as the fact that they both trained to become sangomas.
Mapisa-Nqakula then said: “You want to know if I am the one who asked for the R300,000, yes it’s me and thank you.”
“I then informed her that I did not mean to be disrespectful by asking to meet her. I needed to be sure if Dr Gulube was not using her name for his own gain. The minister stated that from that point onwards, she wanted us to deal with each other directly in case she needed anything,” Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu says.
“We then had tea, after which I left the meeting.”
She listed other alleged cash payments to the minister:
- R200,000 drawn at an FNB branch in Fourways in July 2017 and taken to the minister’s home in Bruma;
- R150,000 taken from her home safe in November 2017 for a nurse who was looking after Mapisa-Nqakula’s father;
- R250,000 that she gave to Mapisa-Nqakula on August 17 2018 at a military spouses forum in Zwartkop;
- R150,000 that she delivered to Bruma on September 14 2018;
- A dollar equivalent of R150,000 that was exchanged through the black market and delivered to the minister in a Ted Baker bag during the Africa Aerospace Day event at Waterkloof on September 19 2018; and
- R300,000 she delivered to the minister at the SANDF VIP area at OR Tambo on February 6 2019. At this meeting the minister allegedly shared with Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu details of a Defence Intelligence briefing that Umkhombe Marine belonged to Brigadier General Ndhlovu.
Two months later cracks began to appear in their relationship, Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu says. In April 2019, during a meeting to hand over R400,000, she asked the minister how much in total she wanted from her.
“The minister sounded like she did not like my question. She said ‘ndiyakucela kaloku’ [I am merely asking you]. She mentioned further that she was not only asking me but from other suppliers who have tenders from her department,” Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu said.
“I insisted on her giving me a ballpark figure ... so that I could budget properly, but she did not tell me,” she said.
In her affidavit Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu also reveals she was the whistleblower on whom UDM leader Bantu Holomisa relied when he reported Mapisa-Nqakula to parliament’s standing committee on defence in 2021.
The committee dropped its subsequent investigation into the allegations of financial abuse, which were denied by Mapisa-Nqakula at the time, after Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu refused to reveal her identity or depose an affidavit, claiming she feared for her life.
In January she resigned from her position as chair of the South African Aerospace, Maritime & Defence Industries Association (AMD) — a nonprofit organisation that represents the interests of defence industry contractors — having served two years on the job.
In her letter, Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu, who was arrested and charged with fraud in 2020, said she needed to attend to personal legal issues and would not want “these issues to bring the association’s name into disrepute”.
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