Nkandlagate

NKANDLA, South Africa—Renovations to President Jacob Zuma's rural home and the construction of a mall nearby have fueled criticism by his political opponents who accuse his administration of being wasteful and out of touch at a time when the rest of the country faces economic strife and labor unrest.

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Mr. Zuma's main private residence outside the capital consists of more than a dozen thatched-roof buildings in the rustic style of a South African game lodge. Mr. Zuma grew up here, and the compound now includes homes for each of his four wives, a medical clinic and security barracks.

Lindiwe Mazibuko, leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance, called on Oct. 1 for South Africa's public prosecutor to investigate reports that the government had budgeted $2.4 million to install fencing, guard booths and a helipad at the home—far more than the $12,000 normally allotted each year for security upgrades at the private homes of top officials.

Mr. Zuma's spokesman, Mac Maharaj, said the president was personally responsible for paying for many of the renovations. He directed questions about the security installations to the public-works department.

Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi said in a news conference on Friday that the renovations, including new electricity and water mains, met federal guidelines for security installations at a president's private home, especially in a place as remote and underdeveloped as Nkandla.

The flap over the Zuma homestead follows a controversy over plans for a 500-acre shopping and residential development in the president's hometown.

Mr. Zuma said it wasn't his decision to build the mall at Nkandla. He said his government was involved in similar, costly work to construct schools, community centers and power installations across the country.

Mr. Zuma also told parliament he would "never be embarrassed by the development in the rural areas, never. Particularly Nkandla, where I grew up."

In Mr. Zuma's living room inside the compound portraits of the president decorated the living room. One showed Mr. Zuma in traditional leopard skin, often worn by members of Mr. Zuma's Zulu tribe during ceremonies such as weddings. Mr. Zuma, who adheres to a polygamous lifestyle that hews to his Zulu culture and is legal in South Africa, has been married six times.

Sizakele Khumalo, Mr. Zuma's septuagenarian-first wife, confirmed her husband's compound was under renovation when two reporters recently visited. "It has not been like this before, he has expanded it," she said.

Mrs. Zuma added that the sleepy atmosphere was nothing compared to the show she and dozens of other relatives would put on when Mr. Zuma was in town. "If you can come in his presence, you will see something you have never seen before," she said.

Mr. Zuma's critics say both the upgrade of his home and the new mall show he is out of step with the hardships facing many impoverished South Africans. Violent strikes have crippled the mining sector, forcing companies to close mines and mull layoffs. Striking miners, frustrated with the modest improvements to their livelihoods since the end of white minority rule in 1994, are demanding higher wages. Meanwhile, a quarter of the workforce is out of work.

The president's critics say all of the profligate spending is a sign that Mr. Zuma is out of touch with the hardships facing many impoverished South Africans.

"How can a leader ask the country to make sacrifices, and tighten belts in hard times, when he leads such publicly funded extravagance," said Ms. Mazibuko, the opposition politician.

Violent strikes have hit the mining sector, forcing companies to close mines and mull layoffs. According to city officials, half the district is illiterate; 95% are out of work; a third of the area's 127,000 residents are infected with HIV.

Some of the few jobs created in the area recently have been tied to the construction projects at Mr. Zuma's home, said Zwe Mbambo, who teaches accounting at a high school down the road.

"We have too many people employed by contract only, a lot working on the president's house," Mr. Mbambo said. "To me that's not a job, it's temporary. They will be hired for three months and then be unemployed."

Some of them might find work again building the shopping mall that a group called the Masibambisane Community Development Trust is planning to build on a rocky hillside opposite Mr. Zuma's house, 19 miles outside Nkandla's center. A representative for the developers, Deebo Mzobe, declined to comment on the project.

Zandile Mncandi-Mpanza, Nkandla's mayor, said the mall would be the centerpiece of a new urban center, a development worth some $244 million altogether. "As the president is [from] here, it assists us a lot because everyone wants to come and see Nkandla, and everyone wants to shine for the president," Ms. Mncandi-Mpanza said during an interview at Nkandla's spare, concrete city hall.

But other residents say Mr. Zuma's attentions have yielded only ornamental improvements so far. On the only road through Nkandla, where cows and goats loiter in town traffic, the government recently installed the town's first stoplight.

"Sometimes it doesn't even work," said 15-year-old Yoliswa Nondumiso, tending her mother's fruit and vegetable stand in Nkandla's city center. "It would have been better to spend the money on schools—my school doesn't even have proper windows."

- Wall Street Journal