Pretoria - The development at President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla home was not unique and was part of the work undertaken at various security sites, Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi said on Friday.
"When President Zuma was elected president, it was a requirement understood by all that the security would have to be beefed up at places of high security risk," Nxesi told reporters in Pretoria.
"An expert team representing the departments of police service, defence (and military veterans) and state security reviewed the circumstances surrounding our principal and addressed all shortcomings."
He said the same upgrades were done in Houghton and Qunu, where former president Nelson Mandela's homes were situated, at the Union Buildings, at the president's office at Tuynhuis, Parliament, and at King's House, in Durban.
The plans for Nkandla were drawn up and implemented as part of meeting international security standards for dignitaries.
"As part of this process, new capacity was requested for Nkandla, in and surrounding the private residence of President Zuma," said Nxesi.
"The approach to providing security at the Nkandla high risk area was based on a frank assessment of the security threat there and the requirements of the security forces.
"The security threat analysis pointed to a deep rural area in which there were basically none of the services we all take for granted in an urban area."
Earlier this week, City Press reported that R203 million of taxpayers' money would be spent on the upgrade, with Zuma paying only five percent of the bill -- around R10m.
On Monday, Democratic Alliance MP Anchen Dreyer said she wanted Nxesi to explain why his department was apparently requesting an investigation into how City Press newspaper got hold of documentary evidence of the upgrade.
Nxesi said controversy over money spent on upgrading Zuma's Nkandla home was based on "misperceptions".
"It is not just something done by public works on its own. It is based on scientific security analysis," he said.
While it was not common practice to comment on the president's security arrangements, the government decided to give "as many details as possible" without endangering Zuma's security.
"... It is now clear that certain parties will continue to make allegations about this project unless these serious misperceptions are refuted with facts," Nxesi said. - Sapa