{"id":875955,"date":"2026-09-19T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=875955"},"modified":"2026-09-18T15:02:04","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T13:02:04","slug":"jacob-zumas-r246-million-compound-is-falling-apart-and-expects-taxpayers-to-fix-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/875955\/jacob-zumas-r246-million-compound-is-falling-apart-and-expects-taxpayers-to-fix-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacob Zuma’s R246 million compound is falling apart, and expects taxpayers to fix it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former president Jacob Zuma\u2019s controversial Nkandla homestead is reportedly deteriorating, and his party, uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), wanted taxpayers to fix it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the government said taxpayers will not be responsible for maintaining the private property or the non-security facilities built there at public expense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson made the position clear in response to a parliamentary question from MKP MP Pumlani Kubukeli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kubukeli asked whether the department was aware that Zuma\u2019s private residence in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, had deteriorated significantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kubukeli blamed the deterioration on the failure of the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure to carry out regular maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also questioned why the property was not receiving ongoing maintenance despite its status as a National Key Point, and asked whether the situation warranted intervention by President Cyril Ramaphosa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macpherson rejected the suggestion that his department should maintain the wider property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is not our responsibility to maintain chicken coops, cattle kraals, amphitheatres, swimming pools, visitor centres or any other non-security upgrades that took place at Nkandla,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the department\u2019s responsibilities were limited to security-related infrastructure and facilities required to support the protection of former presidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is not the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure\u2019s responsibility to maintain non-security upgrades that took place at Nkandla,\u201d Macpherson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe State is strictly responsible for security features and the housing of security personnel. Normal maintenance and basic upkeep of the private residence itself fall outside the State\u2019s mandate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dispute goes back to the controversial security project at Zuma\u2019s home after he became president in 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Zuma family had undertaken renovations at the rural property before his presidency, after which the state carried out security assessments and began installing protective infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What began as a security project with an initial estimate of about R27 million eventually grew significantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Department not responsible <\/h2>\n\n\n
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Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

By the time the Public Protector completed her investigation in 2014, R215.4 million had already been spent, while the total cost was conservatively estimated at R246.6 million, excluding lifetime maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The upgrades included legitimate security infrastructure, but also facilities that became central to the controversy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This included a swimming pool described by the state as a fire pool, a visitors\u2019 centre, an amphitheatre, a cattle kraal and a chicken run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela\u2019s 2014 \u201cSecure in Comfort\u201d report found that several of these features went beyond what was reasonably required for Zuma\u2019s security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said the state-funded additions had also increased the value of Zuma\u2019s private property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Constitutional Court later confirmed that the cattle kraal, chicken run, swimming pool, visitors\u2019 centre and amphitheatre were non-security features for which state funds should not have been used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court also held that the Public Protector\u2019s remedial action was binding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zuma subsequently paid R7.814 million to the South African Reserve Bank in September 2016 after the National Treasury determined the amount payable in respect of the non-security upgrades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August 2026, the Special Tribunal ordered former project architect and principal agent Minenhle Makhanya to pay the National Treasury R147.27 million in compensation for losses linked to unlawful conduct during the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SIU said the amount represented financial losses suffered by the state. The SIU also confirmed that the R7.8 million Zuma had repaid would be deducted from the amount deemed recoverable from Makhanya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macpherson said the department was aware of its obligations concerning the maintenance of security installations at the private residences of former presidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaintenance work at the private residences of all former Presidents is limited to security installations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow the former President wishes to maintain his property is entirely within his discretion and not the responsibility of the State,\u201d Macpherson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jacob Zuma\u2019s private home in Nkandla<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former president Jacob Zuma\u2019s controversial Nkandla homestead is reportedly deteriorating, and his party, uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), wanted taxpayers to fix it.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":875973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2101310603872661574","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2210192893134443","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18242349910313907","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[83,21597,5685,853],"class_list":["post-875955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-jacob-zuma","tag-mk-party","tag-nkandla","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875955"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":876059,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875955\/revisions\/876059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}