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DA leader Helen Zille argues with police as she tries to go past their barricade and travel up the road to President Jacob Zumas house at Nkandla. Picture: Sibusiso Ndlovu<\/p>\n
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Helen Zille has given the government until close of business on Wednesday to respond to questions about renovations at President Jacob Zuma\u2019s Nkandla home, or face court action. <\/p>\n
The DA leader and six other senior party members were forced to abort their inspection of Nkandla and a new highway, just a kilometre before their destination yesterday, after angry Zuma supporters, many of them armed with traditional weapons, blocked the road. <\/p>\n
While Zille was flanked by Haniff Hoosen, the party\u2019s provincial chairman, and Jacques Smalle, the DA\u2019s Limpopo leader, the absence of the party\u2019s KZN leader, Sizwe Mchunu, was surprising. <\/p>\n
Last night Zille told The Mercury that Mchunu \u2013 who has two small children \u2013 and other DA members had received death threats in the days leading up to the trip. <\/p>\n
Everyone had been given a \u201cfree choice\u201d to join in the inspection or not, she said. <\/p>\n
Mchunu confirmed that he had received threats but said it was not the main reason he had stayed away. He had told the party he had \u201canother commitment\u201d. <\/p>\n
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A protester openly brandishes a rifle on the road to Zumas Nkandla home where hundreds gathered to prevent DA leader Helen Zille and her entourage from doing a site inspection. Picture: Patrick Mtolo<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n An angry Zille lashed out at the police, questioning why her group, which had permission to visit, could not travel on the road to Zuma\u2019s homestead while protesters, who had gathered there illegally, could do so. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are here to see what R248m of taxpayers\u2019 money looks like, compared to a year ago,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n She said it was a matter of court record that Nkandla had been built through \u201cbribe\u201d money paid to Zuma in the arms deal when he was still deputy president, and he had used his position as president to escape prosecution. Now he had abused his position to finish the renovations to his homestead with public money. <\/p>\n \u201cNkandla, a village on the hill, will become a monument to how corrupt a government became in a short time,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n While Zille addressed the media and fought with the police at one end of the road, public order police struggled to keep an angry crowd behind their \u201ccrime scene\u201d cordon tape. <\/p>\n Some MK veterans lay in the road, saying they would prevent the DA entourage from passing, with their lives. When the crowd heard Zille had arrived they started running up the road towards her. <\/p>\n MK veterans lie in the road leading to Zumas Nkandla home. They said they would protect it with their lives and would not allow Helen Zille access to the presidents private residence. Picture: Sibusiso Ndlovu<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n At one point a rifle shot was fired into the air. Police spokesman Jay Naicker said a man had been arrested for discharging a firearm in a public area and for having a weapon at a public gathering. <\/p>\n Zille said that even KZN Premier Zweli Mkhize had phoned to advise her that her visit to Nkandla should be called off because \u201cthere was likely to be a violent response\u201d, but they had decided to go ahead. <\/p>\n On Saturday the Presidency said the DA\u2019s motives were \u201chighly questionable and mischievous\u201d and that it smacked of a \u201cdisingenuous publicity gimmick\u201d. <\/p>\n Zille said they had achieved their objective of \u201cmassive exposure to major corruption and this was just the beginning\u201d. <\/p>\n After her failed battle to get past the police, Zille and her group went to the Nkandla police station where they opened a case against the ANC in terms of the Illegal Gatherings Act, said Naicker. <\/p>\n Some Zuma supporters followed them to the police station where they rattled the gates as their protest continued. At least 10 busloads of people from across the ANC\u2019s Musa Dladla region, which includes Eshowe and Empangeni, as well as several taxis brought protesters to Nkandla. <\/p>\n Some of them told The Mercury: \u201cWe are waiting for the madam of Cape Town. She is only welcome if she is coming to marry Msholozi.\u201d <\/p>\n While Zille insisted that they never wanted a big delegation, ANC KZN secretary Sihle Zikalala applauded Mchunu and DA leaders from Umhlatuze and Uthungulu for not supporting the Nkandla visit. <\/p>\n They had shown \u201crespect\u201d for the president\u2019s dignity and privacy. <\/p>\n \u201cNo one prevented Helen Zille from entering Nkandla as an area… the people said they will not enter the house of the president.\u201d <\/p>\n Zikalala said the upgrade at Zuma\u2019s home was being investigated by the public protector. \u201cUnless Zille does not have confidence in the public protector she should seek other legal avenues,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Auditor-General Terence Nombembe has also been asked to audit the spending on the upgrade at Zuma\u2019s home. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" DA leader Helen Zille argues with police as she tries to go past their barricade and travel up the road to President Jacob Zumas house at Nkandla. Picture: Sibusiso Ndlovu Helen Zille has given the government until close of business on Wednesday to respond to questions about renovations at President Jacob Zuma\u2019s Nkandla home, or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-16433","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16433\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"nm](\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/plugins\/rss-poster\/cache\/f45ee_2083418291.jpg\")
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