President Zuma’s Nkandla home – image – www.sabc.co.za
The now notorious Nkandla report has come and gone but it has left a lot of bickering in its wake. In the aftermath of this report, two parties have officially laid charges against President Jacob Zuma and the ANC has stated non categorically that they will not apologise as they do not see anything to apologise for. Predictably, they have laid a counter charge on the Public Protector’s doorstep.
In reaction to the report of the Public Protector, the Democratic Alliance travelled for the second time to Nkandla to lay charges against Zuma. The DA national spokesperson, Mmusi Musimane went to Nkandla to lay charges of corruption against President Jacob Zuma. In his statement after officially laying the charges, Masimane told reporters that he has no doubt that the ‘palace’ was built on corruption and that it had been built by the president for the president with the taxpayers money. In a follow up to Thuli Madonsela’s report, the DA also called for the resumption of parliament in order to facilitate the impeachment of Jacob Zuma. In her report, the Public Protector stated that she had established that the president and his family had benefited from the huge investment which is estimated to have gobbled about 246 million rand.
In another development, also in reaction to the Nkandla report, the Economic Freedom Fighters have also laid charges against the President in Pretoria, ignoring the concept of jurisdiction upon which the police operate. According to their presidential candidate, Julius Malema, they laid charges of corruption, theft, fraud and racketeering against Zuma at the Sunnyside police station. He went further and said they were giving Jacob Zuma twenty days to resign, failing which his party would march to the Union Buildings and not leave until he resigned. He also called on the president’s sons to be investigated too as they were also involved in his activities.
In its response, the ANC said it noted the report and had no intention of undermining it. Responding through its Secretary General, Gwede Mantashe, the ruling party said it would not ignore the report. Referring to the part where Madonsela said the president had to pay back a percentage of the cost of upgrades, Mr Mantashe said the ANC would decide if they would advise him to do that. Speaking from the same venue, the ANCYL national convenor, Mzwandile Masina told reporters that Madonsela must finish with the report and resign as she had shown that she was biased and a sensationalist who had tried very hard to poison the public against the ANC.
