Zuma pays R800 rent for Nkandla land

President Jacob Zuma pays R800 a month to lease the 8.9ha land on which his Nkandla compound is built, City Press reported on Sunday.

   

In addition the public works department pays R1300 a month for the 6.6ha leased adjacent to the Nkandla homestead.

  

Zuma's lease for the Nkandla land is for 40 years, with an option to renew.

  

The newspaper said it obtained details of the lease through access to information legislation.

   

This week, Deputy Public Works Minister Jeremy Cronin told Talk Radio 702 he was anxious for an explanation on the "clearly outrageous" cost of the R206 million upgrade to Zuma's private home in Nkandla.

   

"It's clearly outrageous, it's clearly hard to justify."

    

Cronin was responding to concerns raised by Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko that Cronin's senior, Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi, had classified a report on how the money was spent, by sending it to Parliament's joint standing committee on intelligence. 

 

The committee meets behind closed doors and its members are sworn to secrecy.

   

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has conducted a probe into the upgrade. There is currently speculation on whether or not she will publicly release a report into the matter.

   

Last year City Press reported that Zuma would pay only five percent of the bill for the upgrade, or around R10 million.

   

The president's private home will reportedly feature underground bunkers, a clinic, a fire station, special quarters for police, and a helipad.

   

-Sapa