Cape Town - President Jacob Zuma does not have to repay the state a cent for the R246 million upgrade of his private home in Nkandla which has become the defining scandal of his presidency.
This was the conclusion of a 50-page report released by Police Minister Nathi Nhleko on Thursday which sets out a security purpose for all the features deemed luxuries by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela in her report on the project released last year, inlcuding the presidential swimming pool and animal enclosure at Nkandla.
“Accordingly, the State President is therefore not liable to pay for any of these security features,” the long-awaited report found.
It was released by Nhleko at Parliament and accompanied by videos illustrating the double use of the structures. Nhkelo said a fire drill was held at Nkandla, and the local rescue services arrived more than an hour after they were summoned. This, coupled with low water pressure in the rural area, meant that the most effective way of fighting a potential fire was pumping water from the pool.
Likewise, the amphitheatre served as an emergency assembly point for the Zuma family and for security briefings in case of an emergency and was therefore “a necessary security feature”.
The visitor’s centre provided privacy and needed confidentiality during meetings with important guests, and the chicken run and kraal was built to keep livestock at Nkandla away from security technology such motion sensors and as such “are security imperatives for fence technology to work”.
Nhleko’s report also referred to the amphitheatre in the alternative as a “soil retention wall”, which served the criticial function of containing soil and substrate and “reinforcing the soil bank carrying the inner road surface”.
The minister added: “In case of any fire threats, bomb threat or medical emergencies the occupants of the homestead would assemble at this particular area referrred to as ‘amphitheatre’.”
Nhleko said he hoped the release of the report would bring an “amicable” end to allegationsthat have plagued Zuma since the scale of the Nkandla project was first reported on in 2011.
But the report is unlikely to stop opposition protest over the cost of Nkandla. Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane tweeted the findings of the report before Nhleko began his briefing, with the comment: “As expected the minister of police who works for President Zuma has determined that He does not owe us a cent.”
DA chief whip John Steenhuisen accused Zuma of cynicism regarding the timing of its release, saying it was intended to spare Zuma scrutiny over Nkandla during the presidency’s budget vote in Parliament this week.
“The outstanding security-related work at Nkandla should be funded and completed expeditiously, including the re-evaluation of the current physical security measures,” the report found. The report did not give an indication of how much further security installations would cost.
Responding to questions from the media, Nhleko brushed off suggestions that there was a conflict of interest in leaving it to a member of Cabinet to determine whether the president needed to reimburse the State because he served as minister at Zuma’s pleasure.
He said it was at the behest of Parliament that he was given the task, as per the report of an ad hoc committee on Nkandla, adopted by the National Assembly in December 2014.
The opposition boycotted that process after the ANC majority on the committee said it would not treat Madonsela’s finding that Zuma had unduly benefited from the upgrade and should reimburse the state for non-security features as binding.
The bitter wrangle between the ruling party and the opposition over the status of the public protector’s directives will come up before the Supreme Court of Appeal soon. Last month, Western Cape High Court Judge Ashton Schippers allowed an appeal in the court case over the fate of SABC chief operations officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng. Schippers commented that he was doing so mainly because it was in the public interest that the court pronounce on the authority of the Chapter 9 institution.
Nhleko’s report sidestepped this legal minefield by declaring all structures added to Nkandla necessary for security. During the briefing, he sought to illustrate the dual usage of each with a short video, complete with dramatic soundtrack.
“During the demonstration, the chief fire officer for Umhlathuze established that the suction pump could draw sufficient water from the pool at the required speed, whereas the fire hydrant’s lack of necessary water pressure was evident,” the minister said as a clip played of staff pumping water from the blue tiled pool.
ANA