At the beginning of this month a story caught our eye that almost seemed too shocking to be true. We can now happily report back to you that the lunacy surrounding these pricey renovations has been met with trepidation by Public Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde, and for the most part, been put on hold.

Gwen was speaking at a presser in Pretoria yesterday and explained that no refurbishment of Zuma’s residence, Mahlamba Ndlopfu, was currently taking place.

It is a residence that really needed to be worked on some years ago. We haven’t done that and we were in the process of doing it, but the cost is what has caused us to stop.

We felt that with the R177-million that is earmarked we could do quite a lot of saving. There is no house that is built for R177-million.

Well done, Gwen. We’re glad you found this to be as ridiculous as we did.

More good news is that the fancy military hospital has also been scrapped. “We are not building a hospital at the Bryntirion Estate.”

However, there was a need to accommodate the medical staff based at the estate, who apparently work out of caravans. She explained the department was therefore considering housing the medical staff in the unused Marula House on the estate.

That’s the end of the conversation as far as we’re concerned, Gwen. Your next mission is that home in Bryanston that we discussed.

Go!

[Source: m&g]