Thuli Madonsela, you biscuit. The public protector’s provisional Nkandla report has found that our president has “derived substantial personal benefit from works that exceeded security needs,”and must repay the state.
Cabinet ministers tried to justify Zuma’s spending by saying that was essential in providing Zuma with appropriate security. And by “security,” they probably meant soccer pitches, helipads, and athletic tracks – all of which he has at Nkandla.
Other security features include a swimming pool, visitors’ centre, amphitheatre, cattle kraal, marquee area, extensive paving and new houses for relocated relatives.
These recent upgrades came at “enormous cost” to the taxpayer, Madonsela found, at an estimated R20-million. But Zuma told Parliament last November: “All the buildings and every room we use in that residence was built by ourselves as family and not by government.”
Madonsela’s provisional report says that Parliament must call him to account for “violating the executive ethics code” on two counts:
1) Failing to protect state resources
2) Misleading Parliament for suggesting he and his family had paid for all structures unrelated to security.
The report, however, is only provisional, because not all of the involved parties have been given a chance to comment yet – which may alter the findings. You never know, Zuma might pull some sort of badass explanation out of his shower-proof hat.
Eish. That’ll be pretty hard to explain.
Other key allegations in the report include:
- Costs escalated from an initial R27-million to R215-million, with a further R31-million in works outstanding;
- There was “uncontrolled creep” of the project’s scope after Zuma’s private architect, at Zuma’s behest, assumed a second hat as the public works department’s “principal agent.” This meant he was conflicted, serving two masters with divergent needs;
- Another four firms that Zuma had privately engaged for his own work were taken on by the department without following tender procedures.
- AmaBhungane estimates that the Zuma appointees were paid more than R90-million by the state;
- There were unsuccessful attempts by the department to apportion non-security costs to Zuma. Madonsela could not determine whether a document apportioning the costs reached Zuma;
- The Nkandla upgrade was “acutely” more expensive than public works expenditure at previous presidents’ private homes, by far the most expensive of which was Nelson Mandela’s at R32-million (see graphic); and
- Even genuine security measures, such as 20 houses for police protectors, a clinic and two helipads were excessive and could have been placed at the nearby town to benefit the broader community.
And here is a list of what all the individual security upgrades included:
- The swimming pool, which aerial photographs show as a large, oblong-shaped feature at the centre of an extensive paved area covering basement garages.
- The public works documentation amaBhungane obtained refers to it as a “fire pool” on the pretext that it doubles up as a water reservoir for fire-fighting purposes, although photographs show a large water reservoir higher up the hill.
- The minutes of a progress meeting in June 2011 show that Makhanya was to “meet with the principal [Zuma] and present the fire pool”.
- An early estimate costed the pool at about R550 000 but it and the basement parking ultimately came to R2.8-million;
- The visitors’ centre, which shares a building with a control room. An earlier estimate for the “visitors’ centre and lounge” came in at about R5.4-million but the “visitors’ centre and control room” ultimately came in at R6.7-million;
- The amphitheatre – a large stepped area overlooking an open space for performances. It appears not to have been costed separately and forms part of R68-million in “general site works”;
- The cattle kraal, including a chicken coop. The department’s original cost estimate provided for an existing kraal in the residential complex to be “revamped”.
Viva!
[Source : Mail & Guradian]
