Reuters
Helen Zille, leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance party, speaks to the media after police officials blocked her attempts to walk near President Jacob Zuma’s home in Nkandla November 4, 2012.
The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal yesterday condemned the firing of a rifle by a supporter of President Jacob Zuma at his private Nkandla homestead on Sunday, while the Presidency and DA leader Helen Zille engaged in a war of words over whether her visit had been a political stunt.
Zille led a delegation of six DA members, aiming to inspect the residence that is claimed to have cost the state about R248 million.
Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi has repeatedly refused to confirm the figures, but internal departmental documents leaked to the media detail, among other things, the authorisation of 31 new buildings, including six at a cost of R8m a building.
Costs of R2.3m for lifts between the main houses and |an underground bunker, and R1.5m for air conditioning have also reportedly been authorised by the department, while R3m for bulletproof glass is believed to have already been paid.
Warned by the ANC and its alliance partners not to “provoke” a violent response, the DA went ahead with the planned visit but was prevented from going within a kilometre of the residence by police and hundreds of purported ANC supporters.
Yesterday, KwaZulu-Natal DA leader Sizwe Mchunu said that when the national DA office put his name down to accompany Zille, it had no idea that he already had other engagements.
Mchunu was glaringly absent from the entourage.
On Sunday, Zille and Mchunu said he had received death threats. But Mchunu refused to go into detail.
“It’s not an issue I intend talking about. My main reason was because I had another engagement to attend. The death threats were a side issue,” he said.
Asked why he was absent while Limpopo provincial leader Jacques Smalle was present, Mchunu said that part of the visit was to deliver letters that children from Limpopo had written to the president.
Meanwhile, Presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj said that the DA had used “cowboy” tactics and that its description of the homestead as a “compound” had racist overtones.
Zille hit back on Twitter, citing widespread references to the 24 000m2 “Kennedy compound” in Massachusetts in the US, owned by the political dynasty of assassinated US president John F Kennedy.
Although the ANC’s KwaZulu-Natal leadership condemned aspects of the behaviour of ANC supporters – some of whom were armed with traditional weapons – it thanked its supporters for successfully preventing the “DA’s major attention-seeking publicity stunt aimed at demonising the ANC-led government and our president”.
“We view the discharging of a firearm at a public gathering as an unacceptable act of criminality and hooliganism that must be condemned in the strongest terms, and we commend the police for having arrested the alleged culprit,” said provincial ANC spokesman Senzo Mkhize.
He commended “villagers” for having acted “peacefully”, but rejected the DA’s charge that the ANC had turned Nkandla into a de facto “no-go” zone.
KZN-based political commentator Protas Madlala emphasised the importance of opposition parties playing an oversight role, especially where state resources were used.
He dismissed statements by a local chief that Zille’s visit had been an “insult” because she should have sought his permission to visit the area first.
He said intervention by the police in Nkandla reflected “a degree of intolerance”, and that the police appeared to have taken sides.
KZN police spokesman Jay Naicker said the SAPS had “carried out their duties diligently”.
A docket opened after Zille complained about the illegal gathering of “hundreds of local residents” would be investigated and submitted to the public prosecutor.
The public works minister has asked Auditor-General Terence Nombembe to investigate the upgrade, telling Parliament that the possibility of prices being inflated owing to “lack of controls” in the department could not be ruled out.
The DA has asked Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to investigate the building of the homestead, and said it was |also considering legal action against Zuma and the government.
