South Africa’s parliament speaker resigned on Wednesday and gave up her position in the legislature over corruption charges, a day after losing a court battle to prevent her arrest.
Prosecutors announced last week that they seek to accuse Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula with corruption, accusing her of accepting approximately $135,000 in bribes from a defense contractor during her three years as defense minister.
She allegedly got the payments from December 2016 to July 2019, but another bribe of $105,000 was not paid.
Mapisa-Nqakula declared in a statement that she had resigned but believed she was innocent of the accusations leveled against her.
“I have made this conscious decision in order to dedicate my time and focus to deal with the recently announced investigation against me by our country’s law enforcement agencies,” she said in a statement. “My resignation is in no way an indication or admission of guilt regarding the allegations being levelled against me.”
According to South African media sources, she was given more than $15,000 and a wig during a meeting at the country’s principal international airport in February 2019.
Mapisa-Nqakula’s party, the African National Congress, is preparing to face critical elections this year against a backdrop of high unemployment, rising poverty, and outrage over many charges of corruption against its leadership.
According to recent polls, the party may garner fewer than 50% of electoral support, the lowest percentage since 1994, when it won the country’s first all-race vote to end apartheid.
Following Mapisa-Nqakula’s revelation, it was unclear if she would be detained or submit to authorities on her own, as the North Gauteng High Court refused her request to avoid arrest.
