The chief firefighter of Umhlathuze and his firemen demonstrated to journalists on Sunday morning how a pool of water could be used to extinguish fires at the Nkandla homestead. General Mondli Bethuel Zuma showed journalists the “firepool”, which was covered by a safety net normally used to prevent drowning.

News24’s Amanda Khoza, who is part of the tour, noted that the pool was not as green as it had been for previous demonstrations.

Zuma said police officials on President Jacob Zuma’s homestead were trained to put out a fire because it would take firefighters an hour to get there.

While in action, chief firefighter Andrew Vumba noted that “the swimming pool is more efficient”.

The general said:”Some people from the opposition were complaining that this pool is not big enough to extinguish a fire in the entire homestead. We accept that there is not enough water in the pool but the report by the architects explains how the water from the swimming pool is used,” he explained.

“This [fire]engine came from firemen from their station. The report states that we need our own fire engine but there is no engine because the investigation came to a halt.”

The media was allowed into President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead in KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday for an official tour.

This visit comes after the SA National Editors’ Forum said it was disappointed by the limited access journalists had during a parliamentary committee oversight visit to Zuma’s home on Wednesday. News24