(Bloomberg) -- South Africa’s speaker of parliament is taking “special leave” after her house was raided this week as part of a corruption investigation.

Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said in a statement on Thursday the decision is her own and she took the step to protect the legislature’s integrity. 

The Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party, called on the speaker to vacate her post after the five-hour search of her residence in the east of Johannesburg by investigators working on behalf of the National Prosecuting Authority.

In a statement on Friday, Mapisa-Nqakula’s office denied media reports that she had been arrested, and said she had demanded access to all material related to the “baseless” allegations against her so she could prepare a defense. 

“We can confirm that the speaker and her family are at home and that she has had no interaction with the NPA investigative directorate since the search-and-seizure operation at her house on Tuesday,” it said. “We can also confirm that this morning the speaker has filed papers in court challenging the manner in which the search-and-seizure warrant was obtained and the operation itself.”

Mike Ramagoma, the speaker’s special adviser, said by phone that she had also filed court papers against the NPA, asking that they be interdicted from pursuing the case against her. 

Earlier this month the Johannesburg-based Sunday Times newspaper reported that Mapisa-Nqakula solicited 2.3 million rand ($122,000) in bribes from a contractor while she was defense minister, citing the contractor. She has denied wrong-doing.

The raid is a headache for President Cyril Ramaphosa just over two months before national elections with the ruling African National Congress dogged by graft allegations. 

(Updates with speaker’s comment from fourth paragraph.)

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