FROLIC ADMITS FIREPOOL IS A RECREATIONAL FACILITY

22 July 2015

Congress of the People is surprised that Cedric Frolic, who is chairing the Nkandla Ad Hoc Committee, held a press briefing in the rain. Surely, the committee could have found a room to do this. The excessive restriction of the media, in our view, was unnecessary as section 14 of the Constitution guarantees the privacy of every person, including the President and his family in their home.

The comments of Cedric Frolic were highly surprising. He is saying that a great deal of the work remains unfinished. He expressed his shock at the shoddiness of the work and revealed that “a lot of work” was still required to effect improvements. That is frightening.

We fully agree with him, however, that “Public Works” have a lot to explain. We also agree with him that Nkandla showed “how prestige projects should not be dealt with”.

It is a disgrace that Public Works spent R135 million on building the barracks which seem to have a limited use. The past ministers of Public Works must take full responsibility for this terrible mess. They must be held fully accountable.

Finally, someone in the ruling party accepts that the fire pool is a recreational facility that could serve a different purpose in exceptional circumstances. A swimming pool is a swimming pool whatever the inventive Minister of Police chooses to call it.

The short interview in the rain proves that Public Works supervised nothing, limited nothing and opposed nothing. It pursued an open cheque policy that allowed criminality to proceed unchecked.

COPE all along knew that the Public Protector's report was perfect and honest. We have therefore consistently clamoured for the government to implement her findings and recommendations. There is no refuge for the government and no amount of whitewash will make the scandal go away.

The ruling party can establish as many committees as it wishes. It will not change the truth. President Zuma must pay back a reasonable portion of the money expended on his homestead.

Statement issued by Dennis Bloem, COPE spokesperson, July 22 2015