10 Shocking Facts from The Nkandla Report 1. The initial cost of the project was R27 million. The estimate of the final costs of the Nkandla upgrade thus far is R246 million. The project is not yet complete, but Madonsela has demanded that all upgrades must now be halted. 2. Critical service delivery projects for Inner City Regeneration and Dolomite Risk Management were set aside in order for the upgrades to take place, which was an unconstitutional transfer of funds. 3. President Jacob Zuma was present when his private architect, Minenhle Makhanya, was introduced into the project. This architect, when asked about certain upgrade aspects, said, This is how they do it in England. 4. President Jacob Zumas private architect reportedly earned R16.5 million from the Nkandla project. There are also allegations that low-level officials might have been intimidated by him. 5. The Mail & Guardian questioned the costs of the project in 2009, and the Protector said the President and ministers involved in the project should have acted at that stage, when the cost was estimated at R65 million. 6. No previous Presidents of South Africa had encountered such extensive upgrades to their private residences, and thus, according to Madonsela, there was little precedent for such an amount to have been spent. The Protector has urged Zuma to pay for non-security upgrades at his home, including the cattle kraal, a chicken run, paving, a culvert, and a swimming pool, which up until now has been called a fire pool. Furthermore, these benefits will exist after the President holds office and will be enjoyed in perpetuity and were therefore unreasonable. 7. The National Key Points Act has been used as an excuse for the expenditure on the Nkandla homestead, but the Protector found that the act had been pulled into the project long after it started, and that its provisions were not applied in any case. 8. The Public Protector believes that Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and other ministers involved in the upgrades should be found guilty of maladministration and improper conduct. 9. When President Jacob Zuma claimed that his family had paid for some of the upgrades in a speech to Parliament, he might have misled it, but he did so unknowingly and so unethically, as he did not know the difference between the separate parts of the upgrade. 10. After voicing concerns about escalating costs, the Department of Public Works team was side lined, while contracts were cancelled and others made with no proper procurement processes. Officials failed to keep an eye on the supply chain, and this allowed a license to loot situation.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 09:50:24 +0000
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