Wrangling stymies Nkandla committee

THE special parliamentary ad hoc committee to look into the R246m spending on President Jacob Zuma’s private home in Nkandla has still not begun its work, with MPs wrangling over its constitutionality and operational details on Thursday.

Congress of the People leader Mosiuoa Lekota withdrew from the committee, saying it had no right to review the work of the public protector. Only a court of law could do that, he said.

"We are being co-opted into violating the constitution," said Mr Lekota.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found that Mr Zuma had benefited improperly from the spending on Nkandla and should repay some of the money.

Mr Zuma has since forwarded his response on Ms Madonsela’s findings to Parliament.

The ad hoc committee, drawn from all the parties in Parliament, is expected to consider Mr Zuma’s response, the Special Investigative Unit report and the interministerial report on the issue.

The African National Congress has a majority of one in the committee, which is expected to make recommendations to the National Assembly on its findings by the end of next month.

Review of findings

MPs from other parties disagreed with Mr Lekota, saying there was no intention to review the work of the public protector. Rather, the committee would consider Mr Zuma’s response to Ms Madonsela’s findings.

Freedom Front Plus MP Corné Mulder said he would not be part of any committee that was unconstitutional, "but it is not for this committee to review the public protector’s report as that would be outside the law".

Mr Mulder added that the committee "had not been established for that purpose".

Committee chairman Cedric Frolick ruled that it was up to the various political parties to decide on their level of participation in the committee. He urged the members to move on and decide on its programme.

In a separate development, Transport Minister Dipuo Peters revealed, in a written reply to a parliamentary question from Democratic Alliance MP James Masango, that over the past three financial years R229.3m had been spent on roads around Nkandla.

She said the road from Kranskop to Komo Store, known as P15 section one and two, as well as the unsurfaced section of the road from Eshowe to Nkandla, known as P50 section two, had been rebuilt and resurfaced over the past three years.

Both were multiyear projects, Ms Peters said, and construction through the KwaZulu-Natal transport department started in 2003. The construction was complete except for a few "snags" that were being attended to, she said.

- BDLive