President Jacob Zuma will have to pay R7.8m he owes for Nkandla but South Africans are saying that is not enough.
On Monday, Treasury submitted its report with one day to spare. It determined that Zuma had to pay R7.8m, based on 2009 prices.
On Tuesday, a petition was created to get the Constitutional Court to realise that he needs to pay back more… all of it in fact.
On March 31, the Constitutional Court gave National Treasury 60 days to determine the reasonable costs of the non-security upgrades to Zuma’s Nkandla home.
The Constitutional Court said Zuma had to pay within 45 days of the court approving the Treasury’s report.
The costs included R2.3m for the so-called firepool, R1m for the amphitheatre, and R1.2m for the cattle kraal.
The R7.8m President Jacob Zuma had to repay for his Nkandla upgrades was far too little, several opposition parties said on Monday.
The Democratic Alliance called on Zuma to repay the money immediately and out of his own pocket.
DA leader Mmusi Maimane welcomed the fact that Zuma was now legally obligated to repay some of the money spent on the upgrades.
In its judgment on March 31, the Constitutional Court ordered Treasury to determine the “reasonable amount” Zuma should repay. It gave Treasury 60 days to come up with the amount. Once the court had approved this, Zuma would have 45 days to pay.
“However, paying back the money does not mean the original corruption is forgotten. This is not the end of the road for Jacob Zuma and his corrupt cronies; it has only just begun,” Maimane said.
Maimane said millions of rands of public money were wasted at Nkandla, and the R7.8m was just over 3% of the total spent.
“Zuma and his cronies still owe the South African people hundreds of millions of rands.”
The DA leader said there could be no doubt that Zuma was aware of the upgrades to his residence.
The United Democratic Movement said the amount the Treasury had determined that Zuma should pay back was an insult, while the Congress of the People called it “daylight robbery”.
The upgrades cost R246m in total.
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said the amount was an insult to the intelligence of the people of the country.
He questioned the criteria used to determine the amount and said there should have been a forensic audit.
“We completely reject that and call on Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan not to buy face from Zuma. Not at the cost of the country,” he stated.
Cope spokesperson Dennis Bloem said it would be an insult to taxpayers if Zuma were to repay only R7.8m.
The Public Protector, the SIU, police and Parliament spent millions more investigating the Nkandla saga. Millions more were wasted in hiring expensive lawyers, he said.
“Never in the history of South Africa has one man directly cost the country so much with no benefit whatsoever to the people of our country. If this figure stands, Mr Zuma will have gotten away with daylight robbery.”
Inkatha Freedom Party chief whip Narend Singh called for a full breakdown of how the Treasury had arrived at the amount. He said it seemed “somewhat trivial” when compared to the overall cost incurred.
So what does R7,8 million actually mean in the bigger scheme of what the President earns?
President Jacob Zuma’s salary is set to be increased to R2.89 million, but this is only the tip of the iceberg of what he costs taxpayers.
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Unacceptable low amount