Towards the end of yesterday’s work day, a Monday I think we can all agree dragged on a little, the National Treasury submitted a rather important report.

That report contained, amongst all the facts and figures that make us mere mortals go cross-eyed, a final amount which Jacob Zuma is required to pay back for Nklanda.

R7 814 155, which I hope they wrote out word for word before sending it his way. But how did they come to this figure, considering we’ve all heard that R246 million number thrown around over the years?

ConCourt had ordered that Zuma pay back ‘a reasonable percentage’ of costs for all upgrades that did NOT relate to security – which were the visitors’ centre, the amphitheatre, the cattle kraal, the chicken run and the swimming pool.

Over to TimesLive:

1. Treasury had to first determine the reasonable costs that the non-security features cost.

2. Determine the percentage of the cost that Zuma would be personally liable for.

3. Two quantity surveying firms each comprising of three experts were contracted to do the job. The firms had to do the work independent of each other.

4. The Department of Public Works had to provide relevant electronic and hard copies of the construction and engineering drawings of amphitheatre‚ cattle kraal‚ chicken run‚ visitors centre and swimming pool.

5. Each firm visited the Nkandla residence and they never had contact with each other during the process.

6. A moderating panel was assigned to receive the reports by the two firms The panel was made up of chief executive officers of the SA Institute of Civil Engineering (SAICE) and Association of SA Quantity Surveyors (ASAQS)‚ two professional engineers and two professional quantity surveyors‚ each of whom had at least 30 years of experience.

7. In its study of the reports by two firms‚ the panel concluded on a view that that the only element of the five components in question that could be considered to be of a security nature was the control centre on the ground floor of the visitor’s centre.

8. The panel also concluded that the reasonable costs of the five items amounted to R8‚884‚364 (including VAT) as at June 2009 and R11‚753 758 (including VAT) as at May 2016‚ with an accuracy of ± 10%.

9. Treasury accepted the reasonable cost determination from the panel and agreed that the amount that Zuma would have to pay personally would be 87.94%. This percentage corresponded to R7‚814‚155 as at June 2009.

Get it? Got it? Good.

Small change for Number One I’m sure, but I guess sometimes it really is the thought that counts.

[source:timeslive]