South Africa: Why they booed him; A watchdog says an improperly lavish sum was spent on the president’s home
March 30, 2014 Leave a comment
South Africa: Why they booed him; A watchdog says an improperly lavish sum was spent on the president’s home
Mar 22nd 2014 | JOHANNESBURG | From the print edition
MANY a homebuyer is tempted by a down-at-heel residence that might be profitably resold after redecorating. Often they misjudge the scale of the work needed and end up out of pocket. The president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, made a different sort of error. His is proving costly not because he overpaid for rebuilding but because the taxpayer did.On March 19th the public protector, a watchdog, published a 447-page report on the 215m rand ($20m) of public money spent on Mr Zuma’s private home at Nkandla, in KwaZulu-Natal. Its findings were damning. The notion advanced by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) that the cost was justified for security reasons was quashed. There was no basis for believing that many of the features installed—a cattle enclosure, swimming pool, amphitheatre, extensive paving—were for security, it said. By his tacit acceptance of the scale and cost of the upgrade, Mr Zuma failed to protect public money. That amounted to “conduct that is inconsistent with his office”.
Because Mr Zuma “benefited unduly”, he should repay some of the cost, says the public protector. The Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party, has asked for Parliament to be recalled so that impeachment proceedings against Mr Zuma can begin.
A third of ANC voters said they were less likely to vote for the party because of the scandal, according to a poll in December. The booing he endured that month in front of world leaders at a memorial for Nelson Mandela was in part fuelled by anger at Nkandla’s grandeur.
The ANC will still win the election on May 7th. The shadow of far more serious corruption allegations against Mr Zuma did not stop the ANC winning 65% of the vote last time, in 2009. But this scandal should make the election the hardest it has yet fought.
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