In the report, Madonsela found ethical violations, improper conduct and maladministration. She said that Zuma is the “ultimate guardian of the resources of the people of South Africa” and, as such, should have questioned the scale and the cost of the upgrades.
Madonsela says that Zuma should pay back “a reasonable percentage” of the non-security related cost. This would include the cost of building or upgrading the visitors’ centre, the amphitheatre, the kraal and the chicken run, and the swimming pool.
Madonsela called on Zuma to “reprimand the ministers involved for the appalling manner in which the Nkandla project was handled and state funds were abused” and to report back to the National Assembly on this within 14 days.
The report found that, “The implementation of the Nkandla project leaves one with the impression of excessive and unconciousable ‘Rolls Royce’ security constituting an island in a sea of poverty and a paucity of public infrastructure. This cannot be accepted as consciousable in any state and certainly not any state where section 195 and 237 of the constitution promise to put people first and where the Batho Pele White Paper undertakes to transform the state from the insular apartheid state to one which is people centred and puts people first.”
Photo: Hendro van der Merwe
