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Reports that the Department of Public Works will be spending R203 million on President Zuma’s private homestead in Nkandla is a serious abuse of tax payers’ money by a department which is failing in almost every other key responsibility.

Despite President Zuma’s assurance that he would be covering most of the expense on this upgrade, it is now clear that he will pay a mere 5% of the bill.

The DA will not allow for this to go unanswered.
 

• I will write to the Public Protector, Adv. Thuli Madonsela, and request that she investigates this expenditure. In particular, whether any undue political influence was placed on the Department of Public Works to allocate these funds; whether these funds have been properly budgeted for; whether any funds have been transferred from other much needed projects for this revamp to take place; and whether the allocation of funds, to what is essentially a private home - which will not remain within the state’s ownership - represents irregular expenditure.
• I will request that the Chairs of the Standing Committee of Appropriations and the Standing Committee of Public Accounts, in addition to considering the R2 billion Zumaville project, investigate the Department of Public Work’s involvement in the revamp of President Zuma’s Nkandla homestead.
• I will write to the Auditor General, Terence Nombembe, and request that he investigates whether all proper financial procedures in the awarding of these tenders for the upgrade were adhered to.

This expenditure by Public Works represents a serious confusion by the President and the Minister of Public Works as to what the pressing priorities for South Africa are. Public Works is in complete disarray and cannot deliver on its key mandates.

As President Zuma builds his palace in Nkandla using public money, as if he will be President for life, he deprives money from projects that are so desperately needed to boost job creation and fight poverty. This is further evidence of a President who is increasingly disconnected from the real challenges facing South Africans on a daily basis.
 

Three weeks ago President Zuma proudly declared to Parliament that he is not ashamed of Zumaville and his Nkandla developments. Today, he has every reason to be.