South Africa’s Speaker Resigns Over Graft Charges

A political analyst says South Africa’s speaker of parliament, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, did the honorable thing for the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party by resigning. Professor Sipho Seepe, a former Deputy Vice Chancellor for Institutional Support at the University of Zululand, says it was simply a matter of time before the National Prosecuting Authority would arrest the speaker. She has been accused of soliciting bribes worth about $240,000 from a defense contractor between 2016 and 2019 when she was Minister of Defense and Military Veterans. She said Wednesday that her resignation was not an indication or admission of guilt. Professor Sipho Seepe tells VOA’s James Butty, the ANC has an internal policy that requires the resignation of any official who is criminally charged for misconduct or malfeasance..