South Africa Presidency studying report on amount to be paid by Zuma for his private home

The South African Presidency said on Monday it has received the report that the National Treasury submitted to the Constitutional Court on the amount President Jacob Zuma should pay for non-security items in the upgrades at his private homestead.

The Presidency is studying the report and will comment on it thereafter, presidential spokesperson Bongani Ngqulunga said withouth elaboration.

The National Treasury submitted the report earlier in the day, in line with the Constitutional Court's order on March 31 that "the National Treasury must determine a reasonable percentage of the costs of those measures which ought to be paid personally by the president" and report back to this Court on the outcome of its determination within 60 days of the date of this order.

The National Treasury determined that Zuma must pay 7.8 million rand (about 540,000 U.S. dollars), based on 2009 prices, for the non-security items in the upgrades at his private home in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal Province.

The non-security items include the firepool, the amphitheatre and the cattle kraal, among others.

The Treasury said two firms provided three experts each for the panel which helped determine the amount.

Under the the Constitutional Court ruling, Zuma has to pay within 45 days once the Court approves the Treasury's report.

The Nkandla project allegedly cost public funding worth 246 million rand (about 16.9 million dollars).

Also on Monday, the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomed the report, but said this is not the end of the road for Zuma and his corrupt cronies.

"The fact that President Zuma is now legally obliged to pay back a portion of the money spent at Nkandla is to be welcomed," DA leader Mmusi Maimane said.

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, said Maimane.

The amount to be paid by Zuma amounts to just over three percent of the total spent on his private home, Maimane said.

The DA, Maimane said, will be pursuing a civil claim against Minenhle Makhanya, the chief Nkandla architect, who ought to pay back the more than 155 million rand (about 11 million dollars) used to inflate the cost of the "security upgrades" at Nkandla - which the Special Investigating Unit's 2014 report found him to be responsible for.

Maimane said he has already laid eight charges of corruption against Zuma for his complicity in the misappropriation of public funds at Nkandla in terms of the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act 2004.
Source:XINHUA