Nathi Mthethwa, was roasted for his failure to apply his mind when declaring Nkandla a national key point. This was described as improper conduct and maladministration in the report. Related files PDF: Read the full Nkandla report While Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi and Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula were not directly implicated in the report, it was their departments that were responsible for building and justifying the project. Ms Madonsela found that former public works minister Geoff Doidge had also acted improperly and that officials in his department had failed dismally to adhere to the supply chain management policy framework. The release of the much anticipated report comes less than two months before the May 7 election. After a near two-year investigation, Ms Madonsela said she and her team were relieved the work had been completed. Late on Wednesday, a Cabinet delegation headed by Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeff Radebe and including Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga and State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, held a brief media conference immediately after the weekly Cabinet meeting. Ms Motshekga said a task team would be appointed to examine Ms Madonsela’s report and that the Cabinet had read only the executive summary. The Cabinet would give a more complete response at a later date, she said. Mr Radebe was insistent that no immediate action would be taken by the Cabinet and was at pains to point out the similarities between the report released by the Cabinet in December and the public protector’s report. Ms Madonsela recommended that Mr Zuma take measures to pay back what was spent on structures unrelated to security, but were paid for by the state. These included an amphitheatre, a visitors centre, a cattle kraal, a chicken run and a swimming pool, which has been referred to as a fire pool to be used as a reservoir in case of a conflagration. There had been a failure to follow Cabinet policy and guidelines required for a security evaluation of the residence, the report said. The spending on additional items was unconscionable, excessive and caused the misappropriation of public funds. Ms Madonsela accepted that Mr Zuma had addressed Parliament in good faith and was not thinking about the visitors centre but his family dwellings when he said only family money had been spent on his home. But her report found that Mr Zuma had failed to discharge his responsibility as a beneficiary of public privileges and a guardian of state resources. It was not unreasonable for him to have acted when the news first broke of the exorbitant amounts spent on his residence. The total stood at R65m when it came to light in December 2009. An initial state cost estimate was R27m. His failure to act constituted a violation of ... the executive ethics code and ... amounts to conduct ... inconsistent with his office as a member of the Cabinet, Ms Madonsela said. Mr Zuma had to pay back the amount from which he and his family had unduly benefited, she said. He had to pay a reasonable percentage of the costs that do not relate to security. He was also directed to reprimand the ministers involved for the appalling manner in which they handled the Nkandla matter and how state funds were abused. Mr Zuma will respond to the report in the next 14 days. The National Assembly has also been directed to hold a debate on the report. Although it has risen in preparation for the elections, it can be recalled. Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko said on Wednesday the assembly had to be recalled to debate the report. The DA wants to propose a motion that Parliament impeach Mr Zuma, based on the report. Responding to allegations that the report was political, Ms Madonsela said some people were misled into thinking that there were political considerations. She considered some of the personal attacks on her to be inconsiderate and to have incited people. I must say that when people are afraid, they kick as hard as they can, they don’t always think about who (they) are kicking, they just kick whoever they perceive to be a threat, she said.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 08:40:50 +0000
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