Nkandla Committee a whitewash
07 November 2014
The Nkandla Ad Hoc Committee, study group of the ANC, is doing everything it can to acquit and exonerate President Jacob Zuma without any regard for the Constitution and the law, for the undue benefits amounting to R246 million he received at Nkandla.
The ANC is intentionally damaging Parliament, and undermining its role in upholding the Constitution and in holding the President fully accountable.
The Draft Report of the Ad Hoc Committee clears President Zuma of any involvement in the gross escalation of costs, and clears him of any knowledge of what happened at his own private home.
Yet we know that President Zuma was regularly briefed on the build project at Nkandla through his own appointed architect.
The Draft Report finds that because President Zuma didn't request the upgrades, he was at no fault as they sprung up around him, growing more and more lavish by the day.
Yet we know that President Zuma wrote to Ministers to track the progress, and to speed up the building work.
The Draft Report also does not distinguish between security upgrades, and non-security upgrades, lumping both together under the umbrella of security upgrades.
It is common cause that President Zuma unduly benefitted from non-security upgrades at his Nkandla residence. Features such as the swimming pool, amphitheatre, kraal and visitors centre are without a doubt non-security features, for which the President must personally pay.
It is repayment of the non-security upgrades which the Public Protector ordered of the President, yet this fundamental remedial action step is not even mentioned in the Ad Hoc Committee Draft Report.
The ANC is whitewashing the accountability of Jacob Zuma, through a committee that is meant to determine if the President has yet complied with the Public Protector. Any outcome other than answering that question, will be a travesty of a Parliamentary process.
This is a fight that the Democratic Alliance has taken up on behalf of South Africans; not only so that the President is held accountable but also to protect Parliament and the Constitution from vandalism by the ANC.
Until President Zuma pays back a reasonable percentage of the costs, we will not let this matter rest. President Zuma cannot pick and choose which parts of our law he wants to comply with, at his whim.
The DA will exhaust all options of accountability for the Nkandla scandal. This may include taking President Zuma to court.
Statement issued by Mmusi Maiamne MP, DA Parliamentary Leader, November 7 2014
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
