Zuma lied about family connections
Relocation outside perimeter comes at extravagant cost
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma lied to the public when he said his family members had not benefited from the R246-million security upgrade of his rural Nkandla residence.
The Sunday Times can today reveal that the homestead of Zuma’s late younger brother, Muntukathenjwa Zuma, was among three that cost the taxpayer almost R8-million when they were relocated to make way for the upgrade.
The other two homesteads that were relocated in his compound were those of his late nephew, Sgodo Zuma, and his cousin, Khanya Zuma.
Zuma was the first-born of five children from his polygamous father, Gcinamazwi, and was followed by Muntukathenjwa and Michael. Sgodo died in 2009, the year the security upgrade was started, and Khanya works in Durban.
A family insider confirmed on Friday that both Sgodo and Khanya were members of the president’s extended family.
But presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said yesterday that even though Muntukathenjwa was Zuma’s brother, he was not dependent on the president.
“The submission was made in the context of the Executive Members Ethics Act, where family equates to dependants, not consanguinity or affinity. Consanguinity means relationship by kinship, and affinity means relationship by marriage,” he said.
Maharaj said Zuma’s lawyers had responded in that context in their submission to public protector Thuli Madonsela.
In her report, Madonsela said Zuma’s legal team had denied the relocated households were part of Zuma’s family.
“The legal team assisting the president during the investigation indicated in its presentation on the president’s submissions, dated February 14 2014, that these households are not part of the Zuma family and not dependent on the president.”
However, she was highly critical of the relocation of these families from inside Zuma’s homestead for security reasons.
She said that, during her site visit to Nkandla, Zuma’s architect, Minenhle Makhanya, who made R16.5-million from the project, told her the perimeter fence could not be built around the affected households because it would have impacted on the security of the fence and the detection systems that had to be installed.
“Each of these households consisted of a number of rondavels, two small structures used as a kitchen and toilet facilities, and a kraal for farm animals,” she said.
The families were initially re- luctant to move, she said, but after former public works deputy minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu had discussed the matter with Zuma, they agreed to move on condition “their households were replaced with proper buildings”.
“During the site visit, we were not allowed to visit those families and were advised that there was unhappiness about their relocation,” said Madonsela.
The relocation of the two households was done by Bonelela Construction Enterprise and Projects, owned by Durban businesswoman Than- deka Nene, for R3.6-million, and that of 1.5 households by Moneymine 310 for R4.2-million.
Madonsela said these families could have cost the state between R100 000 and R120 000 per house, which would have been less than R2-million, instead of the R8-million paid for the 15 rondavels built for them.
“It is common cause that the modest rondavels were replaced with 15 modern rondavels at a cost to the state of almost R8-million, which equates to the construction of at least 40 RDP houses.”
She said Bogopane-Zulu asked the Human Settlements Department for RDP houses to be built for these families, but the response was that it would take a long time to build the houses under the government’s low-cost housing programme.
“It was also pointed out during my site visit that it would have been unreasonable to replace all the buildings of every household with one RDP house each,” said Madonsela.
She said substantial earth and site works had to be done to relocate these households owing to the slope of the land.
Public works records showed that the new structures built for the households included water and electricity installations and connections, sewerage connections, built-in cupboards, roads, fences, paving and a kraal.
“The total number of buildings that each household consisted of was replaced in each case. Linking the houses to electrical and water infrastructure also added to the expenses,” said Madonsela.
Muntukathenjwa’s six rondavels are separated by a fence and gravel road from Zuma’s homestead and are near Michael’s homestead, which has seven rondavels of similar style that he built for himself.
Sgodo’s five rondavels are situated opposite the helipad, and Khanya’s five rondavels are a few metres from the perimeter fence in front of the homestead, at the side of the main road.
Sgodo’s daughter, Ntombikayise Zuma, declined to comment on Friday, referring queries to Zuma’s elderly brother, Bhi Zuma, who said his only intervention was to ask the contractors to fast-track the completion of the rondavels.
Khanya’s daughter, Mabuyi Zuma, also declined to comment, saying only her father could do so. But she refused to give his contact details.
In her report, Madonsela said she could find no evidence that the possibility of keeping the households where they were and finding alternatives for the security installations that could save the expense of relocation were properly investigated and considered.
“I got the impression from the observations made during my site visit that it was probably rather the aesthetic impact of leaving the dilapidated structures where they were that bothered the designers of the Nkandla project than the impact it could have had on security.”
She said the argument that relocating the families was a security requirement was “not borne out by the documents prepared by security experts following the two security evaluations”.
“The fact that the families did not want to move on account of,
The rondavels were replaced with 15 modern rondavels at a cost of almost R8-million
among others, their family gravesite, does not negate the fact that they benefited from better buildings at state expense.”
Ironically, the Sunday Times has established that Zuma’s late neighbour and childhood friend, Maphamule Ndlovu, also benefited when he was built a rondavel by the state, even though he refused to be relocated. His rondavel is empty and unoccupied since his death last year.
A neighbour, who did not want to be named, confirmed that the rondavel was vacant. A source in Zuma’s family confirmed it was built by the state, but it is not clear why it was built with taxpayers’ money.