GEORGE AIRPORT AND NKANDLA
In comments that he is reported to have made at a luncheon yesterday, President Zuma apparently asked why there was so much criticism over state expenditure on his personal residence at Nkandla, if the state had been prepared to build an airport for PW Botha in George in 1977?
He also pointed out that he lived in official accommodation without paying rent and that he made use of official aircraft without having to pay the costs involved. Were these unfair benefits, he asked? When it was pointed out that Nkandla was his own personal property he asked whether it was not the state's duty to protect the President and the Deputy President?
The President pointed out that the Special Investigative Unit (SIU) had already found that he was not responsible for the expenditure on Nkandla and had recommended disciplinary steps against 12 officials (a finding that is being hotly contested by some of the accused officials).
If he is correctly reported, the President's comments raise disturbing questions regarding his views on the distinction between proper state expenditure on bona fide projects and expenditure that will result in his own enormous and unjustifiable enrichment.
The state naturally has a duty to provide official accommodation and transportation for a President while he is in office. It also has a duty to provide a reasonable level of security to retired Presidents. However, something must be seriously wrong if the provision of such security leads to state expenditure that vastly exceeds the value of the property that is being protected, as well as expenditure on the security of other former Presidents. This is particularly the case when one considers that the amount spent on Nkandla would be sufficient to build 2 500 RDP houses.