An architect’s impression of the new scheme for Nkandla. (Mail and Guardian)

The Mail and Guardian reported today that the government is building South Africa’s first new town at a cost of R2 billion in President Jacob Zuma’s home village of Nkandla. And taxpayers will be footing half the bill.

The Mail and Guardian reports:

Initial estimates are that the government will have to direct more than R1 billion of taxpayers’ money  into the development, which will require a further R1-billion from the private sector to make the project viable.

The town could spring up very quickly if the department of rural develop­men get the funding. The idea for the town comes from Masibambisane, a rural development organisation, which surprise surprise, Zuma chairs. The Democratic Alliance has described it as a “hand-out scheme used by Zuma to curry favour”. The department of rural develop­ment and land reform has taken up the project with apparent enthusiasm.

Officially, the Zumaville development project is known as the Umlalazi-Nkandla Smart Growth Centre, but this is no mere multipurpose community centre. While Julius Malema’s description of it as the “New York City of KwaZulu-Natal” might be overstating it slightly – the development will cover 200 hectares, which could comfortably accommodate 10 000 middle-class homes – the government is underselling it calling it simply an “emerging town”.

The Mail and Guardian lists some of the future town’s features:

• Government facilities, including offices for home affairs and social development;
• New community facilities, includ­ing a library, theatre and ­recreation centre;
• A new school with boarding facilities;
• A community safety centre and additions to an existing clinic;
• A recreation centre featuring a swimming pool and tennis courts;
• Light industrial units, including an agricultural market; and
• Housing centred around community gardens.

Remember this is, as the Mail and Guardian describes it, “a dusty backwater” and the plan is to turn it into a modern town with tree-lined avenues and covered walkways connecting modern, architect-designed buildings. It’s ambitious at best, a crazy plan by the president to create his own kingdom at worst.

It is very hard not to be cynical about a project like this, especially as Jacob Zuma said in May that “[i]n July, this town will begin to be built,” but outstanding tenders mean that in reality primary work on the project could start, at the earliest, during 2014 if there are no major delays in the adjudication and awarding of big contracts.

Zuma has been steadily working on the area since his election in 2009. There has also been a massive renovation of his homestead in Nkandla village in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Government officials estimate it will cost between R69 million and R400 million.

Among other things, the ostentatious Nkandla ­compound comprises underground living quarters with about 10 air-conditioned rooms, a clinic for the president and his family, a gymnasium, 20 houses for security guards, underground parking, a helicopter pad, ­playgrounds and a visitor’s ­centre. It is as if his homestead will be his castle to the town of “Zumaville”.

Of course criticism of the project has already been made, with the biggest complaint being that Jacob Zuma is providing his and his family’s interests ahead of those of the country. But Zuma’s spokesperson, Mac Maharaj, has described the criticism as reckless and without basis in fact. “Rural development is one of the priorities of the government and is not restricted to one area,” he told the Mail and Guardian.

[Source: M&G]