The Democratic Alliance (DA) notes National Treasury’s determination that President Jacob Zuma must personally pay back R7.8 million to the people of South Africa for the benefit he unduly accrued via non-security upgrades to his Nkandla homestead.

The fact that President Zuma is now legally obliged to pay back a portion of the money spent at Nkandla is to be welcomed. President Zuma must pay this amount without delay, and he must pay it personally. However, paying back the money does not mean the original corruption is forgotten. This is not the end of the road for Jacob Zuma and his corrupt cronies; it has only just begun.

We can not forget that more than R250 million of public money was wasted at Nkandla. This figure of R7.8 million amounts to just over 3% of the total spent. Zuma and his cronies still owe the South African people hundreds of millions of rands.

While we eagerly await the Constitutional Court’s determination on the report sent by National Treasury, the DA will not relent in ensuring that all of those who were complicit in the Nkandla corruption are brought to book so that we can retrieve every cent unduly spent.

The DA will be pursuing a civil claim against Mr Minenhle Makhanya, the chief Nkandla architect, who ought to pay back the more than R155 million used to inflate the cost of the ‘security upgrades’ at Nkandla - which the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU) 2014 report found him to be responsible for.

We are also of the opinion that there is a criminal case to be answered by President Zuma, as well as his cabinet ministers who were involved in this matter. I have already laid eight charges of corruption against President Zuma for his complicity in the misappropriation of public funds at Nkandla in terms of the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act 2004.

The fact is, the Public Protector found that President Zuma and his family improperly benefited from the measures implemented in the name of security which included non-security comforts such as the Visitors’ Centre, swimming pool, amphitheatre, cattle kraal with culvert and chicken run. A full bench of the highest court in the land affirmed this finding.

There can be no doubt that the President was not only aware of the upgrades to his residence, but that he actively encouraged them. The South African people were defrauded by President Zuma and all those implicated in the Nkandla saga, and it is now time he pays back all the money used to upgrade his personal mansion.

Issued by DA