POLITICAL analyst Ralph Mathekga says the ANC-led government is going to have to address the public about the Nkandla report. This comes after the provisional report of Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s investigation into the security upgrade at the president’s Nkandla home was leaked to the Mail & Guardian newspaper. Although the ANC has asked the public to wait for the final report before coming to any conclusions - and Madonsela has refused to comment - opposition parties have called for President Jacob Zuma to resign immediately. Mathekga said the government had to separate the fact that the report was leaked from its contents. “No one, including the government, can stop the rising public anxiety about this issue,” said Mathekga. He said the silence from the government has only made the public and opposition parties more eager to know whether state funds were used to build the president’s house in northern KZN. Recently, ministers in the security cluster tried to stop the media from publishing photos of Zuma’s Nkandla home by claiming it put his security at risk. But Mathekga argued that the government needed to realise they were using security concerns as an excuse for a lack of transparency. The leaked report alleges that it was possible that Zuma lied when he said he and his family paid for all structures at his rural home that were not related to security. The report apparently says the state paid for an amphitheatre, swimming pool, visitor’s centre, kraal and rondavels for Zuma’s relatives. The Public Protector reportedly recommended that Zuma should repay the state the millions of rands spent on upgrades that were not related to security. Soon after the report was leaked, the EFF called for Zuma to resign and the NPA to prosecute him. EFF spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said: “This amounts to corruption.” AgangSA said it was not surprising as Zuma previously faced more than 700 charges of corruption.
Posted on: Mon, 02 Dec 2013 07:23:27 +0000
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