28 March 2017

In a written response to a DA parliamentary question regarding whether he declared the fringe benefits accrued to him as a result of the State-funded upgrades to his Nkandla homestead, to the South African Revenue Services (SARS), President Jacob Zuma refused to answer.

Zuma, as set out by the Income Tax Act, is liable to pay the estimated R63.9 million in fringe benefits tax on the benefits that accrued to him as a result of the extravagant upgrades to his personal Nkandla homestead.

In his response to the DA, the President answered that “tax is a confidential matter between the South African Revenue Services and the Tax-payer”. Although this is true, all the DA has asked is for him to confirm that he has declared to SARS the fringe benefit that has accrued to him in order to prove that he is indeed a law-abiding citizen.

His refusal is yet another indication of him continuously dodging accountability.

The ANC-government has become synonymous with corruption, and the President and his cronies are unashamed in the looting of the public coffers. This, when 8.9 million unemployed South Africans struggle to feed their families.

The DA will not stand for this, and we will continue to hold those in leadership accountable.

A government must deliver services to the people, not steal from them.

Issued by Alf Lees, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Finance, 28 March 2017