Nkandla upgrade: Zuma to pay back cash, but . . .

JOHANNESBURG. — President Jacob Zuma will pay back the money, but the reasonable amount is yet to be determined. This was the concession yesterday in the Constitutional Court by President Zuma’s advocate in the case about Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s report on the upgrades at his private residence in Nkandla.

President Zuma also accepted that Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s findings on Nkandla were binding on him, his lawyer Jeremy Gauntlett SC told the Constitutional Court yesterday. President Zuma therefore conceded that he needed to reimburse the taxpayer for a portion of the upgrades to his private homestead, Gauntlett told the court after lawyers for the Economic Freedom Fighters and Democratic Alliance had argued that he had flagrantly breached the law in evading payment. “We say we accept that the president is required to carry out remedial action. The Public Protector’s report has to be complied with,” he told the court.

“We are proposing that which could bring an end to the protracted issue which has traumatised the nation‚” President Zuma’s .

However‚ Gauntlett was still opposing the orders sought by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the Democratic Alliance (DA‚ which both wanted the court to declare that President Zuma’s failure to comply with the Public Protector’s report was a breach of the president’s obligations under the Constitution. — Times Live/African News Agency/HR.