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I never lied about Nkandla – Zuma

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President Jacob Zuma told Parliament on Tuesday said that he had never lied about the upgrades to his home in Nkandla.

This was after DA leader Mmusi Maimane demanded to see his bond, after quoting from a 2012 statement Zuma made to Parliament, saying that his home was bonded and that he and his family were paying for it.

“Did you in fact pay for the bond on your house? Because I think that is a lie,” said Maimane.

“I did not lie,” Zuma hit back.

 Instead, he told MPs “to listen carefully”.

“Listen so that you not repeat it next time,” he said.

According to Zuma, when he answered questions about his home in Parliament in 2012, he had said his family had built the home, and not government.

He said he started building the home when he was still deputy president and, by the time he was president, the first structure of his home was at roof level, the second at window level, and the foundation was beginning to rise on the third.

When he became president, “they” came along and he was told, “your plan is not going to fit here”.

‘Yebo! Firepool’

Zuma said neither the Constitutional Court nor the public protector had declared he had lied over who had built the family home.

“There were items that were counted by the public protector, who did not say they were part of the house being built.

“In other words, the government came to build these,” he said, mentioning the amphitheatre, cattle kraal, chicken run, and the swimming pool.

But opposition MPs started laughing and shouting “firepool” – the name introduced to the public by Police Minister Nathi Nhleko when arguing that the swimming pool at Nkandla was a security feature.

“Yebo! Firepool. Yes! Firepool! And the waiting room and the amphitheatre,” said Zuma.

“Agreed? Five [items]!” continued Zuma. “They are not talking about houses that people live in, in their bedrooms, their sitting rooms. That’s not the issue that the public protector or the Constitutional Court was talking about.”

‘Permission to Occupy’

“You are not correct, honourable member, to say ‘your homestead was built by the government’,” he said in a mocking voice.

“No, that’s not true. So I want to correct you, it could not be correct that I was lying.

“The first phase of it, I have a bond that I am paying. The second one, the family paid. [These are] not the five issues that were built by government. That must be very clear.

“I have never said I built the five items that the Constitutional Court talks about. The Constitutional Court said the family benefited on what the government built indirectly, and there must be a reasonable amount to be paid. That’s a true story.

“So I’m telling you, and the people of SA, I never lied.”

But DA MP James Selfe wanted to know how he raised the bond without owning the land, since Zuma lives on tribal land.

In a clipped tone, Zuma replied: “It’s called in our area: PTO. Permission to Occupy.”

[Source: News24]
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1 comment

  1. Our beloved No 1 will never lie and No 1 is anointed by most African Jesus Christ Churches Leave our ANC No 1 alone.
    No 1 JZ our President of Mzansi will rule forever and ever.Viva No 1 Viva ANC Viva

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