The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) says former National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s resignation will not affect the party ahead of the general elections next month.
Mapisa-Nqakula, who is expected to appear in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court, resigned both as Speaker and Member of Parliament yesterday citing her wish to safeguard the integrity of Parliament.
She is facing 12 charges of fraud, corruption, money laundering and racketeering. The State will not be opposing her bail application.
Earlier this morning, she went to Lyttleton Police Station in Centurion, Pretoria, where she handed herself over to the authorities.
ANCYL spokesperson Zama Khangase says she believes this shows that the party takes its step aside policy seriously, which stipulates that members who are charged with serious crimes including corruption should voluntarily “step aside” from participating in political activities.
Khangase says, “The ANC has been clear that if you are a person of interest in things such as these, then you have to step aside. There’s a whole process in place now to be able to attend to such matters, that is why we have the integrity committee that deals with such matters.”
“I think anyone at this point who finds themselves in such situations knows very well what stands ahead because we took it upon ourselves to have a resolution based on how to deal with such matters.”
Khangase says the ANCYL also welcomes Mapisa-Nqakula’s resignation.
“We are also pleased with the line that she added to her resignation letter where she said that she does not want what’s happening now to reflect in any way on the ANC. So her resignation gives her a chance to be able to attend to the matter as an individual because obviously, this is not something that the ANC would have sent any deployee to go and do.”
