Public works says taxpayers won’t maintain Zuma’s Nkandla home - TimesLIVE

Public works and infrastructure minister Dean Macpherson says taxpayers will not foot the bill for the general maintenance of former president Jacob Zuma’s private Nkandla residence, insisting the state’s responsibility is limited to security-related infrastructure.

Macpherson was responding to a parliamentary question from former MK Party MP Pumlani Kubukeli.

Kubukeli was expelled from the party late last month. The questions were sent before his expulsion.

Kubukeli asked whether the minister was aware that Zuma’s KwaZulu-Natal residence had allegedly significantly deteriorated because of the department’s failure to conduct regular maintenance.

Kubukeli also asked why the property had not received regular maintenance despite its status as a National Key Point, and whether the alleged failure warranted intervention by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Macpherson rejected the premise that maintaining the private property was the department’s responsibility.

“It is not our responsibility to maintain chicken coops, cattle kraals, amphitheatres, swimming pools, visitor centres or any other non-security upgrades that took place at Nkandla,” he said.

Macpherson referred to former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s 2014 Secure in Comfort report, which investigated the use of public money for upgrades at Zuma’s private residence.

“This is something that is well articulated in the public protector report in 2014 where it found that R246m of public funds had been improperly spent,” Macpherson said.

He quoted the report’s finding that expenditure on several measures installed by the department of public works at the request of security agencies went beyond what was reasonably required for Zuma’s security and resulted in excessive public expenditure.

The Constitutional Court subsequently held in 2016 that several improvements identified by the public protector were non-security features and that Zuma had to contribute towards their costs.

The court also found that Zuma’s failure to comply with the public protector’s remedial action was inconsistent with the constitution.

Macpherson said the non-security upgrades should never have been the department’s responsibility.

“How the former president wishes to maintain his property is entirely within his discretion and not the responsibility of the state. Public works and infrastructure cannot be party to such maintenance,” he said.

Macpherson said the department was aware of its obligations regarding security at national key points and the private residences of former heads of state.

“Maintenance work at the private residences of all former presidents is limited to security installations as determined and requested by the South African Police Service, and only allows state resources to be dedicated to physical security, access control and operational support, for example, housing for protection personnel,” he said.

Macpherson said there had therefore been no failure by his department that would require Ramaphosa’s intervention.

“If there is any confusion in this regard, the former president is more than welcome to contact the Presidency or my office for further clarity. There has been no failure and thus there is no need for the president to be involved in such a matter,” he said.

The upgrades to Zuma’s Nkandla homestead became the subject of a major political and legal dispute after state expenditure on the property ballooned during his presidency.

Madonsela released her report, Secure in Comfort, in March 2014, finding that Zuma and his family had unduly benefitted from upgrades that went beyond legitimate security requirements. The Constitutional Court later confirmed that because the state was obliged to provide security, non-security installations amounted to an undue benefit for which Zuma had to pay back.

The non-security features at the centre of the dispute included a swimming pool, described by officials as a “fire pool”, as well as a cattle kraal, chicken run, amphitheatre and visitors’ centre.

After an assessment by National Treasury, Zuma repaid about R7.8m towards the cost of non-security upgrades in 2016.