REPORT OF THE POLICE MINISTER ON NKANDLA SECURITY UPGRADES
28 May 2015
The Office of the ANC Chief Whip notes the report of the Minister of Police pertaining to the security upgrades at the Nkandla private residence of President Jacob Zuma. The Minister delivered a 50-page report, including pictorial and video footage evidence of experts with requisite security expertise, which demonstrated that certain features previously claimed to be non-security are proper and strategic security facilities.
Following a thorough expert assessment, quantification and costing of the security upgrades, it has been established that only a total of R50.523 884.88 (excluding consultancy fees of R20.6m) was spent at President’s private residence in Nkandla. The rest of the spent, totalling R135.2m, was made on government-owned land for i.e. the erection of the clinic, erection of SANDF and staff quarters and for other public use. These are public facilities and are not erected at the President’s private homestead.
The report further conclusively proves that features such as the pool, visitors’ centre and amphitheatre were not erected at the President’s private residence, but in the outer perimeter fence nearby President’s residence. As such these do not amount to any direct “undue benefit” to the President and his family. The experts who conducted an evaluation for the purpose of this report are highly regarded and independent.
The experts have stressed the multipurpose nature of the so called non security features as follows:
1. The pool was expertly demonstrated as a viable fire fighting mechanism for such a far flung rural setting and requisite high risk.
2. Animal enclosures were erected so as to prevent animals from freely roaming within the security sensitive area, which includes triggering false security alarms, making it difficult for proper security management.
3. The so called Amphitheatre is in fact an ecological feature for soil erosion management and an emergency assembly point required for a person and family of the president.
4. Visitors centre likewise does not just deal with the security of the president alone but our people too, who have developed a tradition of calling at the President’s residency for government services, advise and or courtesy calls. By virtue of being president, President Zuma has multitudes of constituency members who visit and they must be afforded the correct respect. Indeed the same facility was requested by the SAPS so as to control guests in a proper manner.
We appreciate the Minister of Police’s elaborate report, with exceptional expert opinion, which went beyond the call by Public Protector’s recommendation.
We are pleased with the progress made by the SIU in its civil claim for state financial loss of R155m in this regard. We are encouraged with the progress made in taking corrective steps against the civil servants who did not follow the rules and law thus placing the security of the president, his family and the state at serious risk.
With the report now with the Speaker of the National Assembly, a parliamentary mechanism to scrutinise it – in the form of a multiparty ad hoc committee - should begin soon. We are pleased that all parties have submitted the names of their representatives to this committee, which should speed up its creation and operation.
Statement issued by the Office of the ANC Chief Whip, May 28 2015
