Ministers back off on their Nkandla stance

THE fallout over President Jacob Zuma’s R206-million Nkandla residence has turned into a personal bunfight at taxpayers’ expense.

Yesterday, the ministers in the security cluster abandoned an urgent court bid to halt the release of public protector Thuli Madonsela’s provisional report into alleged impropriety in the building of Zuma’s private residence.

At the same time, Parliament’s joint intelligence committee announced the government was justified in spending the money on security upgrades at Zuma’s homestead in Nkandla. The DA promptly blasted the committee’s report as nothing but “a whitewash”.

The joint-intelligence committee report, released in Parliament yesterday, said it found “no evidence that the department of public works” paid for the building of private houses for Zuma and his family.

The committee had conducted its own private investigation on the matter and also cleared ministers in security cluster of any foul play in the matter, concluding that they were correct in classifying the report of its task team as secret.

Meanwhile, papers filed in the high court in Pretoria depict a seemingly soured relationship between the ministers and Madonsela, which at times denigrated into a tit-for-tat battle over power.

Madonsela maintains that, as the author of the report, she is responsible, deciding whether it deals with any security sensitive information. She also argued that the report had been “carefully compiled” to ensure there were no security breaches.

The court papers also reveal that the acting state attorney representing the ministers, Tshifhatuwo Tshivhase, has asked the court to refer Madonsela’s conduct to the Bar Council for investigation.

This was after Madonsela accused the ministers, with the assistance of Tshivhase and the chief state law adviser, of trying to stop her investigation. The ministers have denied the allegations, while Tshivhase rubbishes them as “devoid of any truth”.

In Parliament, the committee recommended that the auditor-general be asked to probe tender irregularities related to the Nkandla renovations but that it be processed by it behind closed doors.

But the intelligence committee has said that it will summon the same ministers to explain why companies and businessmen with no security clearances were allowed access to the Nkandla property and given classified documents related to its renovations.

The architect who designed Zuma’s homestead reportedly did the job without a security clearance while other sub-contractors who got tenders had also not been vetted.

In its report, the JSCI found that there was an “apparent misunderstanding that presently exists” because there was no distinction being made between the land owned by Zuma and the one owned by the state Nkandla.

DA Parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko said: “The ANC clearly wants to perpetuate the secrecy surrounding this matter and continue to keep the entire Nkandlagate scandal under wraps.”