Jacob Zuma's compound in Nkandla in eastern KwaZulu-Natal province Jacob Zuma, the president of South Africa, has been told to repay millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money spent on “security” upgrades to his private home, which included a swimming pool and an amphitheatre.
The Government spent more than 200 million rand (£12.9 million) to revamp Mr
Zuma's rural home, justifying it as necessary security for a head of state.
However, Thuli Madonsela, the country's public protector, reportedly found
that Mr Zuma derived “substantial personal benefit” from so-called “security
upgrades” to the compound in Nkandla in eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, many
of which had nothing to do with security.
A swimming pool, visitors' centre, amphitheatre, cattle kraal, marquee area,
extensive paving and new houses for relocated relatives were all improperly
included in the security upgrade at "enormous cost" to the
taxpayer, Mrs Madonsela is said to have found.
Details of her report, entitled Opulence on a Grand Scale, were leaked to
South Africa’s Mail & Guardian newspaper just weeks after
security ministers took Mrs Madonsela to court to delay its release, citing
“security concerns”.
Covers of two local South African newspapers which defied government threats and published pictures of Zuma's private home.
In court papers, she claimed that she had encountered "very strong" resistance to her investigation from the police, public works, state security and defence ministers who, she said, tried to curtail her access to relevant documents and stop her attending "important" meetings.
If backed up by the release of the report itself, its contents could prove deeply damaging to the ruling ANC’s chances of securing its hoped-for 60 per cent of the vote at next year’s elections.
The Mail & Guardian cited the report as finding that Mr Zuma violated the executive code of ethics by failing to protect state resources and misleading parliament by saying he and his family had paid for any renovations not related to security.
Mrs Madonsela reportedly calculated that the cost of the upgrades spiralled from the R27m (£1.6m) initially budgeted for when Mr Zuma came to power in 2009, to R215m (£12.9m) up to today, with an extra R31m still outstanding.
She is alleged to have blamed the “uncontrolled creep” in costs largely on the involvement of Jacob Zuma’s personal architect, whom he introduced to the Public Works Department despite him having, as Mrs Madonsela’s report said, “no security expertise, let alone clearance”.
The BBC's Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg says the row is one of the biggest issues in South Africa at the moment, ahead of elections due early next year.
Opposition parties have condemned it as a waste of public money, while the governing ANC says it believes he has done nothing wrong.
Mr Zuma's office has declined to comment on the Mail and Guardian article.
The newspaper says it has had "direct access" to the provisional report by Ms Madonsela, the public protector.
It said the upgrades included a visitors' lounge, amphitheatre, cattle enclosure, swimming pool and houses for the president's relatives.
It estimates the cost of those additions to be about 20m rand ($2m: £1.2m).
Adapted
Covers of two local South African newspapers which defied government threats and published pictures of Zuma's private home.
In court papers, she claimed that she had encountered "very strong" resistance to her investigation from the police, public works, state security and defence ministers who, she said, tried to curtail her access to relevant documents and stop her attending "important" meetings.
If backed up by the release of the report itself, its contents could prove deeply damaging to the ruling ANC’s chances of securing its hoped-for 60 per cent of the vote at next year’s elections.
The Mail & Guardian cited the report as finding that Mr Zuma violated the executive code of ethics by failing to protect state resources and misleading parliament by saying he and his family had paid for any renovations not related to security.
Mrs Madonsela reportedly calculated that the cost of the upgrades spiralled from the R27m (£1.6m) initially budgeted for when Mr Zuma came to power in 2009, to R215m (£12.9m) up to today, with an extra R31m still outstanding.
She is alleged to have blamed the “uncontrolled creep” in costs largely on the involvement of Jacob Zuma’s personal architect, whom he introduced to the Public Works Department despite him having, as Mrs Madonsela’s report said, “no security expertise, let alone clearance”.
The BBC's Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg says the row is one of the biggest issues in South Africa at the moment, ahead of elections due early next year.
Opposition parties have condemned it as a waste of public money, while the governing ANC says it believes he has done nothing wrong.
Mr Zuma's office has declined to comment on the Mail and Guardian article.
The newspaper says it has had "direct access" to the provisional report by Ms Madonsela, the public protector.
It said the upgrades included a visitors' lounge, amphitheatre, cattle enclosure, swimming pool and houses for the president's relatives.
It estimates the cost of those additions to be about 20m rand ($2m: £1.2m).
Adapted
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