ANC must clear up Nkandla controversy convincingly

18 May 2016  

Congress of the People believes that Mr Zuma is continuing to mislead parliament about the mammoth Nkandla expenditure. His statement in the National Assembly, yesterday, was his latest attempt to use bluster rather than put the documents on the table to put the matter to bed once and for all. He should know that only the real truth can set him and the ANC free.

Gwede Mantashe should now feel compelled to request personages such as former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe on the one hand and retired Speakers Frene Ginwala and Max Sisulu on the other, very senior and well respected ANC leaders, to examine Mr Zuma's documents by arrangement in order to ascertain whether the Zuma family had indeed registered a bond of the magnitude necessary to undertake the enormous Nkandla project and whether such a bond has been current from the inception of the upgrade.

The four senior ANC leaders can then make a pronouncement on whether Mr Zuma’s oft repeated statement is true and credible.  It will suffice for us if they unreservedly endorse his claim If not, the ANC will have to act decisively against Mr Zuma. As Mantashe is opposed to the opposition parties playing the lead in this matter, he can seize the initiative for the ANC and settle the controversy one way or the other.

Mr Zuma’s word, as many South Africans will agree, has no currency. He does not inspire any trust in most of us. His sudden and very costly firing of Minister Nene indicates to all of us that he has a secret agenda wherein the capture of the National Treasury ranks very high. When his attempt to parachute des van Rooyen into the Ministry of Finance failed, we saw the open harassment of Pravin Gordhan gathering momentum. Though Gordhan has a herculean task in front of him and very much on his mind, the vendetta against him continues unabated. Mr Zuma is making it very clear that he is not finished with what he started. He is also not bothered that he has junked the rand and junked the standing of South Africa internationally.

The time has therefore come for the ANC to do a great deal more than close ranks around him. The time has come for the organisation to take matters into its own hands and to verify the truthfulness of Mr Zuma’s claims that he and his family had indeed paid for all of the development at Nkandla bar that which the Public Protector identified as being paid for by the state. To that we should like to add the state paying for extensive paving that was laid out there and the air conditioners that were purchased for the buildings.  

If the ANC lacks the courage to clear up the Nkandla dispute to the satisfaction of the nation it will have shown that it has no moral integrity whatsoever and therefore no right to lead the country.

Issued by Dennis Bloem, COPE spokesperson, 18 May 2016