Cape Town - President Jacob Zuma said on Friday that the perception that he wasted public money on his private home at Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal was wrong and the result of unbalanced reporting by the media.
“I had an opportunity to meet with the editors and the analysts last Sunday and they asked me about Nkandla, and I was saying, you know, when there was an allegation that Zuma squandered R250 million building his house, there were headlines all over the world,” he said.
“There are three institutions that have investigated, they have found that Zuma did not take a penny.
“There are no headlines (saying) Zuma did not in fact squander the money. That is my problem.
“I have a problem with that type of reporting. It is not balanced. Now, some people who are far away, that are not in South Africa, still believe that the president is very corrupt.”
Zuma made the remarks at a breakfast briefing in Cape Town, the morning after the opening of Parliament descended into pandemonium when the Economic Freedom Fighters interrupted his State of the Nation Address (SONA) by trying again to ask when he will reimburse the state for improvements to his home.
Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found last year that Zuma had improperly benefited from upgrades to the property and should repay a portion of the expense.
Sapa