Zuma misled Parliament over Nkandla

Opposition parties on Sunday lashed out at President Jacob Zuma for "misleading" the Parliament about the bond he had on his house in Nkandla.

"As the President was speaking under his oath of office he seem to have knowingly misled Parliament and the nation that he had a bond and this amounts to perjury.

"This is a very serious offence under the Constitution and the law as indicated in Section 89 of the Constitution of the Republic," Congress of the People leader Mosiuoa Lekota.

City Press reported that the land on which Zuma's home stands was owned by the Ingonyama Trust, headed by King Goodwill Zwelithini, which managed 32% of all land in KwaZulu-Natal on behalf of the state for the benefit of its occupants.

On Thursday 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."

"My residence in Nkandla has been paid for by the Zuma family. All the buildings and every room we use in that residence, was built by ourselves as family and not by government," Zuma told the legislature during two hours of question time.

"I have never asked government to build a home for me, and it has not done so. Government did not build a home for me."

Zuma said he takes exception to accusations that government money was spent for his benefit.

"It is unfair, and I don't want to use harsher words because you believe that people like me can't build a home," he said, apparently referring to Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko, who had asked whether construction at the compound will be halted while the public protector investigates the spending.

City Press said it had been unable to locate public records to support Zuma's claim that the Nkandla property was bonded.

The deed document for the property showed that the Ingonyama Trust was the owner.

Belinda Benson, Ingonyama Trust's property manager, confirmed to City Press that the deeds office records, uncovered by the newspaper, were for Zuma's homestead.

Democratic Alliance leader Lindiwe Mazibuko said: "Serious consequences must follow if President Zuma misled Parliament this past week about having a bond on his private home in Nkandla.

She said what Zuma did reflected negatively on his office and warranted the most urgent and immediate consideration by the National Assembly.

"I will today [Sunday] write to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Max Sisulu, and urge him to request clarification from the Presidency as to the reports in the City Press today, as they seriously risk bringing Parliament into disrepute," Mazibuko said. – Sapa