Durban - President Jacob Zuma’s rural homestead of Nkandla has benefited from another development worth a whopping R582 million, thanks to taxpayers.
This time the sprawling village of KwaNxamalala has been given two new road networks which were unveiled by the provincial government on Tuesday.
The official launch, a stone’s throw from Zuma’s homestead, took place amid huge controversy over the reported R203m upgrade of Zuma’s private residence in KwaNxamalala village.
It emerged last week that the Zuma homestead was being upgraded at a cost of between R203 m and R238m, with more than 90 percent of the tab being picked up by taxpayers.
Political parties have slated the splurge and demanded a probe into how taxpayers’ money was being used to upgrade the president’s private home. Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi, whose department is responsible for the upgrade, has defended the expenditure, arguing that the ministerial handbook on spending of public funds does not apply to the president.
Zuma has access to presidential residences in Durban, Pretoria and Cape Town.
The Nkandla upgrade apparently includes features such as a helipad, waterborne sewerage works, roads, a clinic and accommodation for security staff.
Public Protector Thuli Madonsela confirmed this week that her office was probing this matter and the DA has called for a Parliamentary debate on this issue.
The two roads link the presidential village to the Zululand towns of Eshowe, Nkandla and Kranskop. The network forms parts of a project dubbed the Tale of Four Cities as it links Ulundi, Empangeni/Richards Bay, Durban and Pietermaritzburg.
Government spokesmen have contended that the roads, built by the KZN transport department, had nothing to do with the upgrade of the presidential complex which is being undertaken by the national department of public works.
Transport MEC Willies Mchunu also opened two pedestrian bridges across the iNsuze and Mposa rivers linking other villages to schools which are in the greater KwaNxamalala area at a cost of R4.5m.
The new roads feed the growing perception that the presidential village is getting preferential treatment in the delivery of services.
There is even talk that a new town dubbed Nkandlaville is in the pipeline. Several other projects have already been built near KwaNxamalala village.
These include the Mamba One Stop Development Centre, built for R12.8m and spearheaded by the former KZN social development MEC, Meshack Radebe.
A similar facility, called Tulwane One Stop Development Centre, was built in a nearby tribal village by Radebe’s department.
The facilities were both opened at lavish functions attended by Zuma and Radebe, in the run-up to 2009 elections. This triggered angry reactions from the DA, which charged that public funds were being abused to campaign for the ANC.
However, at the time, Radebe hit back, saying that Nkandla’s residents were not going to be punished by being excluded from service delivery just because Zuma happened to be from the town.
The road linking the village to Kranskop, the P15, is a 32.4km stretch built at a cost of R290m while the road from Eshowe, linking it with the village and the town of Nkandla, is 54.4km long at cost R292m.
In his speech, Mchunu said that while the projects were conceived before Zuma became the president, the provincial government was happy that the road to the president’s home was now tarred.
However, DA MPL and its transport spokesman, Radley Keys, said he had raised questions with the KZN transport portfolio committee members on why Nkandla seemed to be getting a lot of attention.
“There are vast areas of the country that do not even have gravel roads. I said clearly there is an agenda here and it could be that it is because Nkandla is home to the president. Areas such as uMkhanyakude, Dumbe and Nquthu (in Zululand) and others have roads in a terrible state.
“The building of the roads past the president’s home led one to conclude that it was at the expense of development in other areas.”
However, Mchunu said the two roads had been prioritised for development a long time ago – one in 2003 and the other in 2006.
“Zuma was not president in 2003 and 2006. In fact former president Mbeki identified Nkandla and Msinga as priority areas needing development. This has nothing to do with President Zuma.”
The Mercury