The much talked about “firepool” at President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla home is also a “recreational facility”, the ANC’s Cedric Frolick said after inspecting the multi-million rand compound.

“What we saw in front of us is a pool… a pool is a pool,” he told journalists after an inspection by parliament’s ad hoc committee on Nkandla.

When pressed for more information on the so-called firepool, he replied: “It is also a recreational facility.”

But then he quickly added: “It is a water resource that can be utilised to fight fires.”

He described the visit to Nkandla as an “eye opener”, which “basically confirms” the findings of the previous ad hoc committee that there was a gross inflation of prices in the construction of the compound.

“What I’ve seen there today is not worth the R200m plus that is claimed to be spent and the people responsible for that must be held accountable… in line with the SIU [Special Investigating Unit] report,” said Frolick.

“Disciplinary actions as well as criminal prosecutions must be pursued against individual contractors and any officials of public works…

“In fact, when we entered the president’s office… the so-called visitor’s centre, it was actually a very modest place,” he added.

Frolick’s own constituency’s office was “four times bigger”, he said.

Also, he said the security features at Nkandla were “shocking”. Urgent attention needed to be paid to it.

“I can arrive at the conclusion in saying the president is not secure in comfort in Nkandla, and there’s serious concerns.” News24