African opulence? Nkandla’s quite modest

Published Jul 8, 2015

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The Nkandla saga is a steep learning curve for everyone, writes Keith Bryer.

Unpopular as it may be to say it, one day we might know that our president really did have no idea how high the costs were going to be when Nkandla was completed. It is even possible that he never intended it to be quite so splendid, but that might be more difficult to believe.

A post-project audit would probably find Nkandla was a veritable cornucopia for those who built it, a magic money tree for suppliers of cement, thatching, bricks, fencing, professional fees and whatever else was needed to complete the presidential homestead.

Even if the president’s naiveté presented an opportunity to make whoopee with the public purse, some may say, “Why not?”, the client was the president after all. Nothing could be too good for the head of state. If he wished to spend time in rural KwaZulu-Natal to savour his traditional roots, it was obvious that special measures to protect his person were needed, whatever the cost. And since our president has a number of wives and many children, it makes even more sense that one hut of a traditional sort was not enough. A modern version of a Zulu homestead was obviously required.

Eurocentric

So, on the one side we have the need of a tradition-loving president to spend quality time with his roots on his days off – a president who understandably finds Groote Schuur too eurocentric, drafty, full of reminders of a colonial past, and with no cattle to admire.

On the other side we have angry opposition politicians who think R200-odd million would have been better spent on school textbooks, classrooms or whatever, and who also say it was outrageous that a kind of Zulu Disneyland should be paid for by the State, ie taxpayers – most of whom are not of Zulu extraction.

The Nkandla saga/scandal/conspiracy (take your pick) rumbles on. Will it bring down the government as the opposition hopes? Will those of a traditional mindset ever come to think that using state money to build a palace in the bush is not a democratic practice? The jury is out and may never bother to come in.

Nkandla is a steep learning curve for everyone. All white South Africans (not just some) will have to accept that they live in Africa, not in a European enclave, and recognise that what is normal on this continent is different.

Those of a traditional African disposition will have to discover the hard way that money trees need watering, otherwise they die. They will have to learn to ignore the siren song of communists, who say money trees last forever. Our national money tree has deep roots, but the principle is the same. It too needs regular watering by the private sector.

Anyway, Nkandla pales into insignificance compared to what Joseph Desire Mobutu built for himself with public money. Nkandla’s remoteness is suburban compared to Gbadolite, which is 1 000km from the Democratic Republic of Congo ’s capital.

As for the allegedly unnecessary swimming pool and cattle kraal sported by our president’s rural retreat, pah!

Joseph Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (his preferred name that translates as “all-conquering warrior who goes from triumph to triumph) had a weekend retreat that makes Nkandla look like an off-grid holiday cottage. Not for nothing was it called the Versailles in the jungle (an appropriate name considering Mrs Mobutu’s name was Marie Antoinette) – appropriate, but probably apocryphal.

An African Versailles it certainly was. It cost R2 billion. It came complete with a huge swimming pool, and its own international airport with a runway 3 200 metres long. Consisting of three palaces, the entire complex was enclosed by a double row of fences patrolled around the clock and in addition to the main buildings, there were satellite suites for guests.

These palaces sported paintings, sculptures, stained glass, fake Louis XIV furniture, Italian marble and two swimming pools. Mobutu’s parties featured champagne, salmon, and food served on conveyer belts kept supplied by chefs from Europe.

A New York Times journalist described “a marble-tiled terrace… banquet tables set against a backdrop of illuminated fountains, liveried waiters serving roast quail on Limoges china, Loire Valley wines, properly chilled against the equatorial heat”.

We should all be grateful that Nkandla is not on the scale of Gbadolite.

Splendour

As for the need for Nkandla, it depends on the angle one approaches it. If one compares a time when the prime minister of the Cape was Cecil John Rhodes, who lived in splendour in Groote Schuur, more akin to Mobutu’s rather than President Jacob Zuma’s abode, South African taxpayers have got off lightly.

The problem with Nkandla remains. There is a fundamental disconnect between those who genuinely cannot believe what the fuss is about, and others who see it as rampant corruption and flagrant theft, for which the client, the president, should take the rap and “pay back the money”.

No matter who is right, history has a way of settling the argument. Rhodes’ statue was vandalised and removed from its plinth. The palace of Rhodes’ co-looter Mobutu, the all-conquering warrior who goes from triumph to triumph, was pillaged when he died so thoroughly that all that remains are some broken walls that the jungle will soon cover.

One hopes nothing like that is the fate of Nkandla, or Groote Schuur, for that matter.

* Keith Bryer is a retired communications consultant.

** The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Independent Media.

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