In South Africa, former defence minister denies coded money requests on WhatsApp
In South Africa, former Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula denied in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria that she had sent WhatsApp messages containing coded requests for money. She resumed her testimony after her court appearance was interrupted the previous week due to deteriorating health.
Corruption charges
Mapisa-Nqakula faces 12 charges of corruption and one charge of money laundering. They relate to her time as defence minister in 2016–2019.
Prosecutors allege that she solicited 4.5 million rand in bribes from Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndlovu, a logistics contractor for the South African National Defence Force, to secure and retain government contracts. According to the prosecution, 2.1 million rand was handed over in cash.
The prosecution’s key witness, Ntsondwa-Ndlovu, had previously stated that the interlocutors used names of objects and terms related to traditional healers in their correspondence as code words for cash. As TimesLIVE reports, the court examined this correspondence in detail.
Messages about a wig and money
In a message from September 2018, Ntsondwa-Ndlovu wrote that she had snuff and asked how to deliver it. The witness claimed that the word meant money, but Mapisa-Nqakula denied this and said they had not discussed snuff.
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The former minister also said she did not remember a message from October 2018 and subsequent correspondence concerning a document. It concerned a two-year extension of the contract of former chief military surgeon Aubrey Sedibe; Ntsondwa-Ndlovu’s husband, former deputy chief military surgeon Noel Ndlovu, was allegedly “not himself” because of this. Mapisa-Nqakula said she did not know about these messages and had not written them.
Regarding correspondence about a wig in November 2018, Mapisa-Nqakula acknowledged discussing it but insisted on the literal meaning of the word. According to her, she admired Ntsondwa-Ndlovu’s wig at an event for couples, after which Ntsondwa-Ndlovu offered to buy her a wig and handed it over at OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg.
Ntsondwa-Ndlovu claimed that 300,000 rand in cash was concealed in the package with the wig, and that Mapisa-Nqakula’s calls between November 7, 2018, and January 18, 2019, were demands for money under the pretext of the wig. The accused rejected this and stated that she received only a wig, which differed from the one she had liked and cost less than 1,000 rand.
Mapisa-Nqakula also denied that the terms impepho — sacred incense — and indumba — a healer’s hut — were financial codes. Ntsondwa-Ndlovu testified that she gave her 100,000 rand as impepho. The hearings continue, with the court considering other WhatsApp messages.
