Mbalula under scrutiny for ANC’s defence of Zuma’s Nkandla upgrades

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African National Congress (ANC) Secretary General Fikile Mbalula’s comments that the party had defended former president Jacob Zuma over the upgrades made to his Nkandla home have come under intense scrutiny.

Mbalula was speaking at the Mjindi Town Hall in Baberton as the ANC prepared for its 112th birthday celebrations this weekend.

“In defence of our president, we went to parliament to open an ad hoc committee and said a swimming pool is a fire pool. You see, a swimming pool, and we said it was a firepool. We changed it and said it was a fire pool. The Minister of Police was sweating while he hadn’t drunk alcohol. You could see this thing is a lie. It’s hard to explain lies by the way. People lost careers because of that thing,” Mbalula says (speaking isiXhosa).

Fikile Mbalula takes a swipe at Zuma:

Political analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast has criticised Mbalula for his comments. Breakfast says Mbalula shouldn’t have joked about something so serious.

“I don’t think that he should’ve said that. I know that he made that statement jokingly but he needs to stop being casual when he speaks. I mean he is the SG of the ANC, I mean he is the image of the party. I know people often say that the president is the embodiment of the party. So, when preaching the message to the audience you have to come across to be serious. You cannot crack a joke about that. So, basically, what he said is that the ANC defended Msholozi at the expense of the country.”

Mbalula’s comments come at a time when the ANC has been viewed as the most divided and battered since 1994. This has been further exacerbated by former President Zuma joining the newly-formed Umkhonto weSizwe Party. Zuma said that he will not be campaigning for the ANC, even though he will remain a member of the party.

Jacob Zuma’s stance on ANC: Dr Levy Ndou

Nkandla upgrades

It’s been seven years since the Constitutional Court ruled that former President Jacob Zuma should pay back a percentage of the money used for non-security upgrades at his private home in Nkandla. Then Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng made the ruling after former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s remedial action stated that a portion of the money spent on the upgrades should come from Zuma’s pocket.

“Pay back the money”, a slogan coined by the red berets over the Nkandla scandal, had become synonymous with former President Jacob Zuma’s term in office.

In 2015, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)  and the Democratic Alliance (DA) brought an application before the Constitutional Court to determine if then Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s report that Zuma should pay back a portion of the money for the non-security upgrades in his Nkandla home, were binding.

Both parties also sought to determine if the former president violated the constitution by failing to comply with the Public Protector’s remedial action.

Delivering a scathing judgment, former Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng ruled that the former president should indeed pay back a portion of the R246 million from his pocket which would be determined by the Treasury.

“Five – The National Treasury must determine the reasonable costs of those measures implemented by the Department of Public Works and the president’s Nkandla homestead that do not relate to security, namely the visitor’s centre, the amphitheatre, the cattle kraal, the chicken run and the swimming pool only. Six – the National Treasury must determine a reasonable percentage of the cost of those measures which ought to be paid personally.”

Prior to the scathing ConCourt judgment, the governing party was unrelenting in proving to South Africans that the non-security upgrades at the former president’s homestead were perfectly justified.

An eleven-member ad hoc committee was formed to further interrogate Madonsela’s report on the security upgrades at Zuma’s home. But the Nkandla battle is one that former President Zuma did not take lying down, often criticizing the opposition for probing it.

“Even if you tell them, the Nkandla report is being processed, it’s going to come. I mean three investigations are being made, it’s being processed… Nkaaandla!  Even if you are discussing very serious matters. A man stands up and says point of order. Yes! Nkaaaandla! Thixo was George Goch,” said Zuma at the time, continuing to laugh at the end of the comment.

And almost a decade after Nkandla, the scandal has once again reared its head.

Zuma, ANC saga: Andile Mngxitama

-Reporting by Sibahle Motha