Tafelberg Short: Nkandla - The end of Zuma?. City Press
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•Instead of answering the questions about the Nkandla R200m and giving facts, ANC decides to investigate how City Press got the info. Lovely.– Siyabonga Nyezi
•Public Works Minister Nxesi to investigate how City Press learned of Nkandla upgrade. Perhaps should investigate why it was kept secret! – Etienne Shardlow
•Me thinks this ‘ministerial handbook’ needs to be updated and upgraded too, to 2012 requirements! It shouldn’t cost that much. #nkandlagate– Paul A Harris
•Whether Nxesi launches an investigation or not against City Press, he still to needs explain Nkandlagate! What the hell?! – Nompumelelo Kunene
•@City_Press Charity starts at Nkandla. – Siegfried Hannig
•It’s amazing how Thulas Nxesi didn’t deny the story in City Press about 203 million upgrade on Zuma’s home – Mawethu Sunduza
•Damn all these howlers . . . I’d love to be involved in the development of Nkandla!! Bring on #ruraldevelopment – Sam Mhlungu
•Interesting that City Press didn’t compare JZ Nkandla spend to Mbeki, de Klerk and Mandela. possibly deliberate. #OneSidedReporting (sic) – Thami Cele
•Yes, I think City Press should b investigated n nt Zuma, so wat if he want to do sum chnges @Inkandla ... (sic) – zanele
•Give it up @ferialhaffajee!! Your campaign has failed thus far. No sign of it ever winning @City_Press on Sunday: R200m bill for Nkandla (sic) – Luthando
•@City_Press Zuma is not Nkandla development will happen with or without u writing negative things about it if it was CPT u will silent!!! (sic) – Sabelo Zulu
•City Press is at it again, trying desperately to discredit Zuma. We know they oppose Zuma and by implication ANC, they R200m story is insane! (sic) – lindani
•Officials who gave City Press those unclassified documents are part of the anti-Zuma brigade. Thulas Nxesi can go ahead and launch the probe. – Jobe S Sithole
•@chestermissing City Press is lying. Discrediting Zuma is part of their plan. Who’d revamp a house for R200m? Do people know how much dis is (sic) – sandile gasa
Whether taxpayers believed that their money had and was being spent on the president’s home or that the story was fabricated to discredit him, they agreed that such an amount was preposterous – how could such extravagence happen in a country like South Africa?
And yet it seemed the upgrades to Nkandla were happening, this despite massive upgrades to Zuma’s official residences in Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town, undertaken since 2009. The fact that the cost of living had gone up significantly and that our president married four women – which brought extra costs to taxpayers – should also not be ignored.
Aside from the day-to-day costs, the Zuma family celebrations seemed disproportionately lavish. When Duduzile got engaged in December 2010, preparations included the removal of the heavy machinery being used for the construction of the helipad.
Then, April 2012 was a month of celebrations in the Zuma household – third wife Thobeka Madiba-Zuma celebrated her 40th birthday at a lavish bash and Zuma himself cut cakes almost daily at four events arranged for his 70th birthday celebrations. A massive marquee had been erected for Zuma’s birthday party and cattle were slaughtered overnight to feed both the guests and the community. The N2 freeway from Durban and the road leading to Zuma’s homes were dotted with posters directing guests to the party.
A week later, the president married Bongi Ngema in a private traditional ceremony at Nkandla, with the local community at Nxamalala joining in the celebration.
In an unfortunate juxtaposition for Zuma, it was revealed toward the end of 2012 that his Malawian colleague, President Joyce Banda, has taken a personal salary cut of 30%. Her humility and no-frills style inspired us all, but not Zuma.
The security upgrades at Nkandla were also in contrast with the private residences of former presidents FW de Klerk, Mandela and Mbeki have been far more modest than those at Zuma’s Nkandla homestead.
Former president FW de Klerk’s spokesperson, Dave Steward, said the state had dealt with security facilities at his home in Pretoria and his holiday home in Hermanus. “The budget was relatively modest. There have been no enhancements to his private living quarters. “Security continues to be provided by the state, which conducts assessments of the security situation around him.”
There was a R28.2 million upgrade to former president Nelson Mandela’s Qunu residence. During his time in office, no upgrades were done at his private houses, except for security. “But it was never close to R200 million. It was just the basics: electric fencing, automatic gates and a guard house,” said a source with knowledge of Mandela’s term in office. As president, Mandela mostly stayed at his Houghton home, his house in Qunu was built with his own money.
Former president Thabo Mbeki lives with his wife, Zanele, in their house in Houghton, Joburg. Mbeki’s home has state-funded office space and a guard house for his security detail. Mbeki is also accompanied on the road by protectors from the police’s VIP protection unit. In September 2006, former public works minister Thoko Didiza confirmed that her department paid R3.5 million for security upgrades at Mbeki’s house.
About Nkandla, a Public Works insider said it was common for projects in the department’s “prestige portfolio”, of which Nkandla is one, not to go out on tender. The department had a list of approved service providers from which it chose companies to do the work.
At the time of the exposé, construction experts questioned the cost of the controversial upgrades, with some describing the costs as a “joke” and many saying they seem to have been grossly inflated. City Press spoke to experts in the construction industry who agreed to speak to City Press without access to detailed information about the extent of the renovations.
Stuart Clark, a contracts manager at Reed Simpson Construction, said that after taking a look at published pictures of the residence, the expenditure seemed “grossly overestimated”.
“The further away the construction site is, the higher the price of construction, with everything having to be hauled in from far away. But looking at the pictures (of the residence), everything seems overpriced,” said Clark.
Hermanus van Niekerk, owner of Security Experts, said the price tag for security equipment and fencing at Zuma’s private residence was a “joke”, adding it was “impossible to think security installations can cost that much”.
Van Niekerk, with more than 20 years of managerial and technical experience in the security industry, said “security for one residence should not cost that much money. It seems someone, somewhere is inflating the prices.” The money paid to Minenhle Makhanya Architects also seems inflated, said an industry architect.
Most of the 15 contractors who worked on the project declined to comment, citing confidentiality clauses.
When City Press put it to Thandeka Nene of Bonelena that her company in fact scored almost R100 million from the project, Nene, who has a penchant for German sedans and luxury holidays, said the figures were “not correct” and that she could not speak to us “because (she) signed confidentiality agreements”.
The Mail & Guardian reported that Bonelena employed Zuma’s niece, Khulubuse Zuma’s sister, as a manager on the project. Nene said there was no Zuma in her company, but that she was “too far” from the work at Nkandla to know which people the company employed on-site. Asked if she investigated whether Zuma’s niece worked for Bonelena after the report was published, Nene said she “didn’t have time for that”.
Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, at the end of 2012, an emotional Zuma told Parliament: “I took the decision to expand my home and I built my home with more rondavels, more than once. And I fenced my home. And I engaged the bank and I’m still paying a bond on my first phase of my home.”
However, it became increasingly difficult to deny all the allegations