Zuma: Nkandla upgrades not my fault

President Jacob Zuma says none of the Nkandla reports, including the public protector's, found him at fault for upgrades at the compound.

President Jacob Zuma on Sunday said all three reports conducted on security upgrades at his Nkandla homestead found no fault in him.

In a pre-recorded interview with the SABC, Zuma said initially, the allegations were that he had abused R250-million of taxpayers money.

“The reality is, the president did absolutely nothing wrong. “There is not a single one [report] that found anything wrong that the president had done,” Zuma said, referring to himself in third person. He said even the report compiled by public protector Thuli Madonsela found no fault in him.

Undue benefits

Madonsela’s report had stated that Zuma and his family had unduly benefited from some of the upgrades at his home and suggested that he pay back some of the money.

“But the president did not ask for any benefits from anyone,” Zuma told the SABC, He was still awaiting a report back from an ad hoc committee which was tasked to look into Madonsela’s report before deciding on a way forward. 

Public spending on security upgrades at Zuma’s home have turned into one of the major controversies of the Zuma presidency, as costs escalated to R246-million. It emerged the project included a pool (dubbed a “fire pool” by government), an amphitheatre, and a chicken run.

In August, Zuma’s personal architect Minenhle Makhanya was served with a R155-million civil claim by the Special Investigating Unit for the R246-million upgrades at Nkandla.

Makahanya later opposed the claim.

Differences in the reports of the public protector and the interministerial task team has cast doubts on the latter’s work. – Sapa, Staff reporter.