[full]President Jacob Zuma last night sought to put to bed the furore over the R206-million upgrades made to his Nkandla homestead, saying he would abide by public protector Thuli Madonsela’s report – provided it is “accurate”.
The report is expected to be released on March 1.
Zuma told eNCA’s Dan Moyane in an interview: “Absolutely, [I will abide by the findings and recommendations contained in the report]. You can’t not if the investigation has been done properly and facts have been found. In this case, it was not the president who was being investigated, it was the upgrades … But if they are not accurate, then that’s a different story.”
Zuma said there was a “specific figure on the upgrades”, “about R50-million or R70-million”.
He said the government introduced security features after he and his family had already begun upgrading their two homesteads. It was not a family decision, but the government’s, he stressed.
Did he object or seek explanations on the upgrades?
“You don’t,” he said. “No president asks that question. When I was appointed the deputy president, many things were imposed on me. You don’t ask. You don’t debate . You’re told.
“I can tell you sitting here – there are things that they have done that I don’t know. In fact, they will tell you [that you are] not supposed to know.
“The only thing I debated was when I saw one of my bedrooms with one little window like it was a prison cell. I said to them: ‘Look, I was in prison for 10 years. I can’t be in prison for life now in my home. This one I can’t accept.’ I was looking at it from a subjective point of view.”
Madonsela earlier said an outstanding response from a respondent had delayed the release of the Nkandla report.
At the weekend, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe told the SA National Editors’ Forum that the Nkandla debacle could have been handled better.
Asked if it had damaged the image of the Presidency, Motlanthe admitted: “Yes, there have been negatives. Communications around the whole matter could have been handled much better.
“It has taken its toll on not only the image of the Presidency, but the government and the whole country … it has created doubt about our commitment to root out corruption.”[/full]