FORMER National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has been released on R50 000 bail.
The Pretoria Magistrates Court found that she was not a flight risk and the fact that she had handed herself over to police showed she was willing to co-operate with the investigation.
Magistrate Anna Oosthuizen said in her ruling: “It's in the interest of justice that the applicant is released on bail.”
Mapisa-Nqakula had asked the magistrate to throw her case out of court because the state’s case against her was "exceedingly weak".
"Though I've not been furnished with the charge sheet, based on press reports, the state's case is exceedingly weak," she said through her lawyer, Advocate Graham Kerr-Phillips.
Mapisa-Nqakula said she owned a R7 million house in Bruma, Joburg and she was not prepared to lose it by not complying with the court's condition to attend trial.
She said she lived with her husband, Charles Nqakula and their two sons.
Charles, who is High Commissioner to the Republic of Mozambique, was in court to support his accused wife.
He was accompanied by former Mzansi deputy president and speaker Baleka Mbete.
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"I have every reason to attend my trial," said Mapisa-Nqakula.
She said conditions in prison were dire and she was neither financially equipped nor healthy enough to be incarcerated.
It was revealed that the former speaker suffers from hypertension and was taking medication for it.
"She constantly needs this and if it is not available, her life is at risk," said Kerr-Phillips.
Mapisa-Nqakula further submitted there was no prospect that she would interfere with evidence that may be led by prosecution.
She is facing 12 counts of corruption and one count of money laundering.
She is accused of taking bribes totalling R4,5 million from a contractor during her tenure as minister of defence.
Mapisa-Nqakula handed herself over at the Lyttleton Police Station on Thursday morning, 4 April.
She resigned with immediate effect on Wednesday, 3 April due to political pressure from opposition parties.
She told the court that she was not a flight risk and stands to lose a lot if she evades her trial.
"I will not risk forfeiting my freedom should I be released on bail. It cannot be said that I have a predisposition to commit crime. The fact that I voluntarily handed myself over to the police indicates that I don't intend to evade trial," said Mapisa-Nqakula.
The state didn't oppose her bail application.
However, lead prosecutor Bheki Manyathi said to say the state's case was weak was an "undesirable strategy" by defence.
He said they were not in a position to say that because they had not seen the evidence against the accused.
"As the officer of the court, I assure the court that it is simply incorrect that the state case is weak. It is not correct that we are relying on the evidence of a single witness. To the contrary, the state’s case is very strong,” he said.
Manyathi said the state intends to add another accused to join Mapisa-Nqakula in the dock.
The matter was postponed to 4 June.
