Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has pleaded not guilty to 13 charges as her corruption and money-laundering trial opened in the Pretoria High Court on Wednesday, 22 July 2026.
The former National Assembly Speaker and defence minister is accused of soliciting and receiving R4.5 million in kickbacks from a contractor while she led the defence department, as reported by EWN.
She has denied any wrongdoing.
What the Mapisa-Nqakula corruption trial alleges
The charges centre on R4.5 million that Mapisa-Nqakula allegedly solicited and received from contractor Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu between 2014 and 2021, the years she served as defence minister.
Prosecutors link the alleged payments to construction work and upgrades carried out at her home during that period.
The 13 counts against her combine corruption with money laundering, the latter covering the alleged movement of illicit funds to disguise their origin. Mapisa-Nqakula is among the most senior former cabinet members to stand trial on graft allegations tied directly to her conduct in office.
Mapisa-Nqakula admits that the construction and upgrades took place. She has pleaded not guilty, however, to soliciting or accepting any bribe from Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu, drawing a firm line between work done on her property and the accusation that it was paid for corruptly.
How the corruption trial opened in Pretoria
Wednesday’s proceedings opened with Mapisa-Nqakula making admissions before the court on facts that are not in dispute.
She did not sit in the dock, taking instead the desk usually reserved for legal counsel, dressed in a blue shawl and a black Xhosa doek.
Making formal admissions at the start of a trial narrows what the state must prove. By conceding the facts that are not in dispute, an accused allows the court to focus only on the contested questions, in this instance whether the upgrades to her home were funded through a corrupt arrangement.
More than two years have passed since Mapisa-Nqakula handed herself in at the Lyttelton Police Station over the allegations.
The position she is charged over, that of defence minister, was one she held for seven years before moving on to lead the National Assembly.
The state’s case rests on proving that the R4.5 million and the home upgrades amounted to a bribe rather than a lawful arrangement.
Central to it is the relationship between the former minister and Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu, whose dealings with Mapisa-Nqakula prosecutors say crossed into corruption.
With her plea entered and the uncontested facts on record, the trial now moves to the contested heart of the state’s case, whether the money changed hands as a bribe. The Pretoria High Court is expected to begin hearing evidence in the days ahead.
