PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma has complied with a Constitutional Court order and repaid the South African R7.8 million for the luxuries that were added to his private home at Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal, his office said today, of the longest running of his scandals during his presidency.
“President Zuma has paid over the amount of R7 814 155.00 to the South African Reserve Bank as ordered by the Constitutional Court of South Africa in respect of his private homestead at Nkandla. The President raised the amount through a home loan obtained from VBS Mutual Bank on its standard terms, one of the few financial institutions which offer home loans in respect of land owned by traditional authorities,” it added, referring to the fact that his rural retreat stands on land owned by the Ingonyama Trust.
The EFF is likely to claim this as a political as it was the party who directly approached the Constitutional Court to force him to implement Madonsela’s finding.
National Treasury separately confirmed that Zuma had transferred the sum it calculated as a reasonable portion of the roughly R216 million spent upgrading security at his home in one of the longest-running scandals of his presidency.
The final calculation was made public in June and confirmed as an order of the Constitutional Court, which had earlier found that Zuma failed to uphold the Constitution by flouting Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s directive that be refund the State because he had unduly benefited from non-security items included in the project.
These famously included a swimming pool, cattle kraal, chicken run, amphitheatre and visitors’ centre, which the police ministry and Parliament sought to cast as legitimate public expenditure by claiming that each item doubled up as a vital security measure.
Meanwhile Zimbabwean finance minister says government has so far paid out US$ 42.7 million to former white commercial farmers who lost their land during the country’s on-going land reform program.
Chinamasa told Parliament during the presentation of the mid-term fiscal policy statement recently that the government was expediting mapping and valuation of improvements on the acquired farms for compensation purposes and that the EU and the United Nations Development Programme had provided US$7.8 million for evaluation of the farms.
“To date, 42.7 million dollars has been paid out for 43 farms, notwithstanding fiscal constraints being faced by government,” Chinamasa said – ANA
12/09/2016
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