Immigration and xenophobia

Under Mapisa-Nqakula, the home affairs portfolio confronted a major increase in immigration to South Africa from neighbouring countries, especially due to ongoing political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe. Shortly after becoming minister, in September 2004, Mapisa-Nqakula appeared before the South African Human Rights Commission during hearings on xenophobia in South Africa; she acknowledged administrative problems in the asylum system and treatment of refugees, but said that she had set up an anti-xenophobia unit and was working to address other challenges.^[24] However, by March 2008, observers reported that her department was "in constant violation of the laws regulating processing of asylum-seekers" and that asylum-processing systems had "just about collapsed and are spinning out of control".^[25] That assessment emanated from the exit report of a task team appointed by Nqakula to clear the backlog in asylum applications; the task team concluded, "Two and a half years since the start of the Backlog Project — we see the same chaos we first experienced when joining home affairs in September 2005, with a new backlog larger than the one that has just been effectively cleared... Whatever work we have done is being ignored or is already becoming undone."^[25]

Shortly after this assessment was published, a major wave of xenophobic violence broke out in Gauteng in May 2008. At an early stage of the violence, which began in Alexandra, Mapisa-Nqakula, blaming criminals for the violence, undertook to protect foreign residents and promised that those affected would not be deported.^[26] She repeated this assurance on later occasions.^[27][28] However, the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) was critical of Mapisa-Nqakula's role, with its chief whip, Ian Davidson, urging her to "pull her head out of the sand" and acknowledge the true causes and extent of the violence.^[29] According to Davidson, Mapisa-Nqakula had a "long history of denial" about the extent of illegal immigration to South Africa; he held the government responsible for the crisis insofar as it had presided over "one of the largest human migrations of the last quarter-century, without any comprehensive plans on how to cope with the influx".^[29]

In December 2008, Mapisa-Nqakula said that she did not support stronger border control measures, explaining that, in her ministry, "Our emphasis is on facilitation of movement rather than tighter border control... then you know who is in the country and what they are doing."^[30] On 2 April 2009, in a move welcomed by human rights groups, she announced that the government would exempt all Zimbabwean citizens from visa requirements and grant them special residency permits allowing them to work inside South Africa;^[31] this policy was retained and expanded under the next administration.

Rise in the ANC

During her tenure as deputy minister and minister in the home affairs portfolio, Mapisa-Nqakula continued to rise through the ranks of the ANC, joining the party's National Executive Committee. Having formerly served as an ex officio and co-opted member of the committee,^[32] she was directly elected at the ANC's 51st National Conference in 2002; by number of votes received, she was ranked 37th of the 60 members elected to the committee.^[33] She was also elected to the influential National Working Committee.^[34]

The following year, on 29 August 2003, at the ANCWL's fourth national conference at Nasrec in Johannesburg, Mapisa-Nqakula was elected as president of the ANCWL. She received 1,454 votes across 2,030 ballots, beating the other contender – league deputy president and acting president Thandi Modise – by 528 votes.^[15] Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang had also been nominated for the position but declined to stand on the ballot.^[35] Mapisa-Nqakula was believed to be the preferred candidate of the national ANC leadership under Mbeki,^[36] as well as the preferred candidate of Bathabile Dlamini, who was re-elected as secretary-general at the same conference.^[6] However, she denied rumours that there had been a fierce contest between her and Modise, saying that they were "good comrades".^[37]

In her maiden speech as ANCWL president, she demanded 50 per cent representation for women in all spheres of government, but declined to support calls for South Africa to elect its first woman president, saying, "In the ANC we rally behind our leaders. We believe in rallying behind the president we have. It's a tradition we grew up with in the ANC. We have a capable leader."^[37] Indeed, she went on to support Mbeki's bid to win a third term as ANC president in 2007.^[38][39]

At the party's hotly contested 52nd National Conference in Polokwane in December 2007, Mbeki lost to his former deputy, Jacob Zuma, but Mapisa-Nqakula was re-elected to the newly enlarged National Executive Committee, ranked 68th of 80;^[40] she was not re-elected to the National Working Committee.^[41] She stepped down as ANCWL president when her term ended on 6 July 2008, ceding the office to Angie Motshekga.^[42]

Procurement of VVIP jets

At an early stage in her tenure, Mapisa-Nqakula attracted media attention for reversing plans put in place by her predecessor, Lindiwe Sisulu, to lease new aircraft for use by government VVIPs, including the president and deputy president. A preliminary agreement with Boeing was allowed to expire, with Mapisa-Nqakula suggesting that the expiry might be fortuitous because "the aircraft being negotiated was not necessarily what the defence force would have advised us to buy";^[55] and she went to court to challenge a contract with AdoAir, claiming that the terms of its award had not been compliant with the Public Finance Management Act.^[56][57] During the same period, Mapisa-Nqakula was involved with a public row with her predecessor over a related matter: in October 2012, in response to a parliamentary question from David Maynier, she reported that Sisulu had taken 203 private flights, at a cost of over R40 million to the South African Air Force, between 2009 and 2012.^[58] Sisulu's strong denial of this claim led ultimately to a formal complaint against Mapisa-Nqakula with Parliament, to a series of mutual public recriminations, and, as late as March 2014, to Sisulu's threat of a lawsuit against Mapisa-Nqakula.^[58][59]

At the end of Mapisa-Nqakula's first six months in office, the Mail & Guardian admired her approach, saying that she had "inherited a desk that must have been groaning under the weight of unresolved issues left behind by Lindiwe Sisulu" and that her "willingness to feed Sisulu to the parliamentary wolves on her extensive use of luxury jets" had established her as "tough enough for the job" and as willing to be responsive to Parliament.^[60] However, new plans to lease aircraft for VVIPs caused intermittent controversy over the next few years,^[61] and the Mail & Guardian complained that in 2015, as in previous years, "Mapisa-Nqakula seemed to be mostly in the business of justifying which planes the president and his deputy use to fly around the world, while considering the purchase of newer and shinier VVIP planes in her spare time", thus detracting attention from the substantive issues under her portfolio.^[62]

Waterkloof Air Base landing

Mapisa-Nqakula was Minister of Defence on 30 April 2013, when, in a serious security breach, the controversial Gupta family landed a private plane at the Waterkloof Air Force Base, apparently delivering their acquaintances to a family wedding at Sun City. In the days after the landing, the Mail & Guardian reported that Mapisa-Nqakula was under serious political pressure, including from inside the ANC, and that President Zuma had ordered her to return from a working trip in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to attend a series of urgent meetings on the matter; in terms of South African law, planes could only land at the base with Mapisa-Nqakula's permission.^[63] The opposition Freedom Front Plus demanded that Mapisa-Nqakula should "provide answers" about the incident,^[64] and the ANC agreed: ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu called strongly for an explanation from the South African National Defence Force (SANDF),^[65] while ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said on Radio 702 that, "We will be speaking to the Minister directly to get answers of the logic behind this. To us it doesn't make sense."^[66]

In a statement, SANDF said that it had denied a request by a Gupta associate for authorisation to use the air base.^[67] This was confirmed by a ministerial investigation later in May, which also found, according to Justice Minister Jeff Radebe, that, although no minister had been involved in authorising the landing, it had come about by "name dropping", with Gupta associates dropping Mapisa-Nqakula's name, along with that of the president and of Transport Minister Ben Martins.^[68] In July 2017, the Sunday Times reported, based on the so-called Gupta Leaks, that, in advance of the landing, Gupta associates had received access to confidential military charts, including maps of the base and information on its radio and navigation frequencies.^[69] The DA said that it would insist that "Mapisa-Nqakula must come before Parliament to explain this outrageous access the Guptas has had to our country's military services".^[70]

Major troop deployments

On 31 December 2012, President Zuma sent Mapisa-Nqakula to assess the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR), where South African troops were stationed under a bilateral agreement and where a civil war had broken out.^[71] The following week, he announced a major SANDF deployment to the CAR as part of a campaign to support stability there. The Mail & Guardian subsequently questioned the motives behind the deployment, suggesting that the government sought to protect ANC-linked business interests and the regime of François Bozizé.^[72] Mapisa-Nqakula was adamant that the deployment served the South African national interest,^[73] and she accused the opposition DA of exploiting South African deaths – 13 died at the Battle of Bangui – for political gain ahead of the 2014 general election.^[74] Though she announced in April 2013 that South African troops would withdraw,^[75] controversy around the mission continued thereafter. The same week, Mapisa-Nqakula defended SANDF against reports that South African troops had killed child soldiers in the CAR, saying, "If our soldiers were attacked by children they were correct to defend themselves. If a child shoots at you, are you going to wave your hands, give him a sweetie, blow kisses?"^[76]

Two years later, SANDF troops were deployed inside South Africa following renewed xenophobic violence in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal in April 2015.^[77] Announcing the deployment, Mapisa-Nqakula suggested that the instability might be fostered by external forces, warning, "South Africans, let us not be gullible and vulnerable to people who have their own agendas of destroying the state and the government of the republic of SA – by people who want to create permanent instability in the country, who do not want peace."^[78] After another spate of xenophobic riots in Johannesburg in September 2019, Mapisa-Nqakula argued in a parliamentary debate that the incidents were "mostly acts of criminality irrespective of the nationality of those involved", rather than acts of xenophobia; she argued in response for reviving "the voice of the moral regeneration movement".^[79] Such remarks were criticised as fuelling xenophobia denialism.^[80]

SANDF troops were also deployed to assist the police with public-order policing during the Covid-19 pandemic, with 2,820 troops deployed at the outset of the lockdown in March 2020 and all available personnel – including reserve and auxiliary forces – put on standby with authorisation to deploy as of April 2020.^[81] Although the deployment was welcomed by politicians across the political spectrum,^[82] the Mail & Guardian said at the end of the year that it had been "disastrous", with 214 misconduct complaints laid against SANDF members during the lockdown, including one pertaining to the killing of Collins Khosa in Alexandra.^[83]

Use of military aircraft

On several occasions, Mapisa-Nqakula attracted controversy for her use of air force aircraft. First, in July 2013, she travelled in an air force helicopter to Tlokwe, North West to accept, on the president's behalf, a memorandum from local ANC members, who were demanding political action be taken against their former mayor. The DA accused Mapisa-Nqakula of abusing state resources to conduct party-political business, thus contravening the ministerial handbook and appearing to "treat the South African Air Force as the ANC's own airborne taxi service".^[84] The South African National Defence Union also strongly condemned the trip, calling it a "poor show of leadership and outright lawlessness".^[85] Mapisa-Nqakula's spokesperson said that Mapisa-Nqakula had been on government business, pertaining to "governance issues" and "the ability of government to function" in Tlokwe, and that she had taken the helicopter because her arrival was urgent in resolving a "potentially explosive situation".^[84][86]

In a separate incident, in May 2016, the Sunday Times reported that Mapisa-Nqakula had used an air force jet to "smuggle" a Burundian woman into South Africa.^[87] The woman, Michelle Wege, had left Burundi for the Democratic Republic of Congo in January 2014 and had been arrested at Kinshasha International Airport for attempting to travel using fraudulent documents. Mapisa-Nqakula had intervened, writing to the South African Ambassador in the Congo and then, on 28 January 2014, flying from the Waterkloof Air Force Base to the Congo to fetch Wege. Her sister, Nosithembele Mapisa, was the deputy ambassador in Burundi at the time and was suspended by the ambassador, Oupa Monareng, on suspicion of having arranged the false passport under which Wege was arrested.^[87] Mapisa-Nqakula denied having abused state resources, pointing out that she had flown with Wege from the Congo to Addis Ababa, where she was in any case scheduled to appear on a working visit to an African Union conference. She also said that she had rescued Wege from an abusive father, who had confiscated her passport, and that "I'd do it again if I had to."^[87] Wege's father denied that he had been abusive and said that his daughter had been in a romantic relationship with Mapisa-Nqakula's deceased son.^[88] The DA said that it would lay criminal charges against Mapisa-Nqakula, alleging that she had breached the Immigration Act by bringing Wege into the country,^[89] and the Mail & Guardian criticised Mapisa-Nqakula for having been "defiantly unapologetic" about an incident "which gave every appearance of having been a flagrant breaking of the law".^[90]

Finally, and perhaps most controversially, on 8 and 9 September 2020, Mapisa-Nqakula transported an ANC delegation to and from Harare, Zimbabwe, where they met with leaders of the Zimbabwean ruling party, Zanu-PF. They travelled on ZS-NAN, a Dassault Falcon-900B owned by the air force and allocated for VIPs, and the delegation included ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule as well as Lindiwe Zulu, Nomvula Mokonyane, Enoch Godongwana, Tony Yengeni, and Dakota Legoete.^[91] The DA accused the ANC of "gross abuse of government resources" for party-political purposes,^[92] and the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse called for "stern corrective action".^[93] A spokesperson for the Department of Defence explained that the ANC's visit to Zimbabwe coincided with a working visit by Mapisa-Nqakula in her capacity as minister; she had apparently been scheduled to meet her Zimbabwean counterpart to discuss SADC matters.^[91] President Ramaphosa confirmed that he had authorised Mapisa-Nqakula's ministerial visit to Harare, but asked her to provide him with a report setting out the circumstances of the flight.^[94]

Two weeks later, Ramaphosa said that he had concluded that Mapisa-Nqakula had contravened the Executive Members Code and "failed to adhere to legal prescripts warranting care in use of state resources", in an "error of judgment... not in keeping with the responsibilities of a minister of Cabinet".^[95] He issued her with a formal reprimand, docked her ministerial salary for three months, and instructed her to ensure that the ANC reimbursed the state for the costs of the flight.^[95] The acting Public Protector, Kholeka Gcaleka, agreed with Ramaphosa's assessment, reporting in September 2022 that "Mapisa-Nqakula's conduct by giving a lift to the ANC delegation on the aircraft constituted an improper advantage and or unlawful enrichment to the ANC".^[96] Mapisa-Nqakula sent the ANC an invoice for R105,000 to cover the party's share of the flight costs.^[97]

Corruption allegation

In April 2021, Bantu Holomisa of the opposition United Democratic Movement wrote to the Joint Standing Committee on Defence asking the committee to investigate allegations, emanating from an unidentified whistleblower, that Mapisa-Nqakula had received cash and gifts to the value of R5 million from an unnamed SANDF contractor between 2017 and 2019. Mapisa-Nqakula denied the allegation and challenged Holomisa to approach law enforcement agencies to pursue the case.^[98] The parliamentary committee agreed to probe Holomisa's allegation and established a subcommittee that was tasked with doing so.^[99][100] However, the subcommittee's mandate expired on 31 August 2021, and all of its members were unanimous that the inquiry should be dropped; Holomisa's whistleblower had declined to submit an affidavit to the committee.^[101]

2021 civil unrest

In July 2021, serious civil unrest broke out in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. Although Mapisa-Nqakula said on 10 July that "I don't think we have reached a point where SANDF should be dragged into what is happening",^[102] troops were deployed within two days of her statement^[103] and their strength was augmented later the same week.^[104] In the aftermath, Mapisa-Nqakula contradicted Ramaphosa's characterisation of the unrest as an insurrection, telling the Joint Standing Committee on Defence that it was in fact "a wave of crime".^[105][106] After the acting Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, publicly criticised Mapisa-Nqakula, saying that "the facts do not support Mapisa-Nqakula's comment", she backtracked and agreed that "it was indeed an attempted insurrection".^[107]

The defence ministry and other security cluster bodies were criticised for their slow response to the unrest, including for the slow progress of troop deployments. In this connection, Mapisa-Nqakula later told an investigation established by the South African Human Rights Commission that the military response had been obstructed partly by a lack of cooperation and intelligence-sharing from officials in KwaZulu-Natal, including the provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.^[108] Mkhwanazi strongly denied this allegation in his own testimony, saying that he had called for military intervention at an early stage and strongly implying that she had perjured herself before the commission. He also said that Mapisa-Nqakula had lied to the public about the number of soldiers on the ground on 15 July, inflating the number nearly two-fold.^[109]

On 5 August 2021, President Ramaphosa announced a cabinet reshuffle that included the sacking of Mapisa-Nqakula and her state security counterpart, Ayanda Dlodlo. He said in his cabinet announcement that, "we have acknowledged that our security services were found wanting in several respects".^[110] Thandi Modise, until then the Speaker of the National Assembly, was appointed to succeed Mapisa-Nqakula, who Ramaphosa said would be appointed to a new position elsewhere.^[111]

2023 State of the Nation Address

On 9 February 2023, during President Ramaphosa's annual State of the Nation Address at Cape Town City Hall, Mapisa-Nqakula ordered several Members of Parliament to leave the chamber for disrupting the president's speech through heckling and a sequence of points of order: Vuyo Zungula, the leader of the African Transformation Movement, was the first to be told to leave, and several minutes later, in an escalation, Mapisa-Nqakula asked armed security forces to enter the chamber to remove members of the EFF, who appeared to be approaching the stage where the president stood.^[123] Mapisa-Nqakula later explained, "rules or no rules here was a situation my common sense tells me that a president is sitting here and he is addressing and I asked people politely to leave the house and instead of leaving the house they climbed the stage. It immediately threatens the security of the president."^[124]

The following week, EFF leader Julius Malema announced that the party had lodged a motion of no confidence in Mapisa-Nqakula as speaker. He argued:

The misconduct of the Speaker on 9 February 2023, has disqualified her as a legitimate Speaker of Parliament. The Speaker referred to members of this house as animals and violated the Constitution and the Rules of the National Assembly when she allowed armed police to invade Parliament... The police must never be allowed inside the chamber because that is where the executive is held accountable and those who are in power, if they do not have answers, may be tempted to use the security forces to intimidate those who are holding them accountable.^[125]

Amos Masondo, the chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, disputed that Mapisa-Nqakula had indeed called EFF members "animals"; the unrevised Hansard recorded her as using the word phumani, meaning "get out".^[126] The EFF's motion was debated on 22 March 2023 and was defeated in a landslide, with 234 votes against the motion, 42 in favour, and 73 abstaining.^[127][128] All members of the ANC majority had opposed the motion, while the largest opposition party, the DA, had abstained; the DA's Siviwe Gwarube explained that the party did not support the motion because it "does not even scratch the surface of why you [Mapisa-Nqakula] are ill-suited for this role".^[129]

ANC National Executive Committee

Mapisa-Nqakula was nominated to stand for re-election to the ANC National Executive Committee ahead of the party's 55th National Conference in December 2022. However, although just a year earlier the Business Day had labelled her a "political heavyweight" and "integral cog in the ANC's internal dynamics",^[130] she did not receive enough votes to be re-elected to the 80-member committee.^[131]

Revival of corruption investigation

In March 2024, Mapisa-Nqakula's residence in Johannesburg was raided by police as part of a judicial investigation into the bribery allegations made when she was defence minister.^[132] Following the allegations, Mapisa-Nqakula resigned from the National Assembly altogether on 3 April 2024 but maintained her innocence.^[133]

On the morning of 4 April, she handed herself over to police. Later that day, a court charged her with 12 counts of corruption and one count of money laundering.^[134] She was later released after posting 50,000 rand ($2,670) in bail. Her trial is scheduled to begin on 4 June.^[135]