President Jacob Zuma said he won’t pay back a cent of the money spent on his Nkandla home, until he is found liable.
The president, addressing the National Assembly during the question and answer session, said this was because the Public Protector only made recommendations and never held him fully accountable.
“Never have I ever thought on the date when I will pay back the money. Firstly, there is no money that I am going to be paying back without a determination by those who are authorised to do so as recommended by the Public Protector. When you ask this question, you were in fact moving ahead of the Parliamentary process which was dealing with that very issue and I said so on that day. The Public Protector has not said ‘pay back the money.’”
After constant heckling and interruptions by opposition Members of Parliament (MPs), Zuma lost his cool, responding in full to the Democratic Alliance (DA)’s Mmusi Maimane, saying he was out of order.
“This Parliament did not act honourably to me. They stopped me from answering questions. I never dodged and you were busy from that time, dealing with those issues and what you have been saying in public is not true,” said Zuma.
The president refused to adhere to the pleas of Speaker Baleka Mbete for order and lambasted the DA Parliamentary leader for saying he was not accountable.
“There’s never been a date given to me to come to Parliament to answer questions. Why did you say, did you ask me? Because I want that issue to be cleared; I have never dodged questions in this Parliament. I have never,” Zuma added.
However, calm returned to the house, with Zuma poking fun at the opposition.
“I am a politician, I am a leader and people tend to try to find something to talk about. My surname is very nice and simple – Zuma, so they like pronouncing it all the time.”