Tafelberg Short: Nkandla - The end of Zuma?. City Press

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СКАЧАТЬ mayor Zwelabo Zulu: “They should have consulted us before starting this project, but because some politicians wanted to be seen by Umsholozi (Zuma) as doing something, they just imposed things on us.” He also complained about the condom factory project. “Up to today, nothing has been done despite the fact that there was a sod-turning ceremony for the project,” says Zulu.

      By 2011 the grass around the Mamba One-Stop Development Centre had grown to hip-height and dust and spider webs coated empty rooms. For the president’s neighbours near his private homestead, the centre had come to represent all that frustrated them about service delivery from both the Inkatha Freedom Party-run Nkandla council and the provincial government, led by the ANC.

      Zinhle MaNtuli, one of the president’s neighbours, said: “There is not much that has changed for us even though the president comes from here. All we want is for government to deliver on its promises and give us the services we deserve.”

      Nhlakanipho Shange of the ­Ezitinini area in Nkandla says they were promised low-cost houses, but they have not been delivered. “The only development we saw is at Zuma’s residence because there is a huge housing project ­taking place there,” said Shange. “Now it is almost 15 years since the road project started, but it is not complete yet,” he added.

      Despite the difficulties of the existing projects, Zuma announced a large new project in Nkandla over Christmas 2010.

      An R800 million project, bankrolled by the Shanghai Property Fund, which secures land in South Africa on behalf of major Chinese investors, would see the construction of another shopping mall, and residential and business facilities.

      Also, at the end of 2012, the R1.5 billion “Jacob Zuma Highway” was being built by a private businessman.

      City Press obtained a letter written by Moeti Mpuru, in which he stated his company was given “authority” by the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government, through the transport department, to “secure development funding” for the surfacing of the highway. But mystery surrounded the funding of the project by Mpuru’s Korong Capital Partners, who took over the project from the KwaZulu-Natal transport department in September 2013.

      The relatively unknown Mpuru identified his role as securing development funding, but former transport minister S’bu Ndebele told Parliament that Mpuru’s company would fund the project. Ndebele said Korong would be “leading the construction of this road which, after construction, will be handed over to the (KZN transport department) for asset management and routine maintenance”.

      Through his “partners”, Mpuru said, he had secured funding for the project, but needed to pay a US-based attorney $100 000 (R870 000) in legal fees for the “initial phase of the funding” to be released. It was not clear who Mpuru’s partners or funders were and whether they were based in the US. Mpuru offered a local construction company the first 10km of the road – and more work – in return for a loan of R1 million to pay the US lawyer.

      The construction company approached by Mpuru for the loan confirmed the approach from Korong. Liviero Group CEO Neil Cloete said the proposal was “not deemed worthy of any follow-up”.

      KwaZulu-Natal transport spokesperson Kwanele Ncalane said the department had given Mpuru an “ultimatum” to provide a concrete progress report on work done on the project after failing to meet several earlier deadlines demanded by the provincial cabinet. Korong had not attended several meetings to discuss progress, which left the provincial government unhappy.

      Zumaville

      Developments at Nkandla were also launched by Masibambisane (loosely translated as “working together”) Development Initiative, a non-profit organisation founded in Nkandla to lobby government and business and channel development funding into the community. It was co-chaired by Jacob Zuma and his cousin, Deebo Mzobe.

      In 2012, South African and international investors were wooed to pump millions of rands into the development of “Zumaville”, the nickname given to the R2-billion “smart village” earmarked for Nkandla.

      Mzobe said it was Masibambisane which had come up with the idea of the new town.

      He told City Press Masibambisane had partnered with the Department of Rural Development to create the planned 200-hectare town, to be built around existing government buildings and schools.

      A Rural Development official who worked with Mzobe this week said: “He shows up with his flashy dress style and crocodile shoes and tells us what to do in meetings. It is a very unhealthy situation. “He is only a civilian, but the kind of influence he exercises in the department is staggering. He simply picks up a phone and phones a minister. It has happened before my own eyes: the minister of agriculture, land, economic development, he has a direct line to them.”

      Several sources in the Rural Development and Land Reform Department confirmed that Mzobe was now regularly attending critical rural development meetings.

      But Mzobe hit back, saying his organisation was simply a non-profit entity trying to uplift the lives of people living in rural areas. He admitted to attending government meetings regularly, but denied it was for sinister reasons.

      He said: “It is not Masibambisane who convene these meetings. As stakeholders in rural development we have to be at these meetings. We want to make rural development happen in the areas where we are active and as a stakeholder we have to be at these meetings.”

      Mzobe added: “We have seen lots of other initiatives in the area. What we want is to take all of these, including existing plans for shopping malls and other facilities, and package them together within the overall Umlalazi-Nkandla Smart Growth Centre.”

      Mzobe confirmed that an initial feasibility study, master plan and environmental impact assessment (EIA) had been conducted at rural development’s expense. Rural Development spokesperson Mtobeli Mxotwa said his department was the “coordinator and facilitator’’ of the project, one of three such “smart villages’’ being built acrossthe country.

      According to the EIA, the project would cost about R1 billion to complete, creating some 500 jobs and generating R10 million in wages in the development phase.

      Project manager Craig Perritt of Aurecon, the consultants used by the Department Rural Development for the project, refused to comment. He said the department had insisted on a confidentiality clause in his contract.

      After City Press reported on this project, DA Parliamentary Leader, Lindiwe Mazibuko wrote the following:

      Over the last week the media have catalogued plans to construct a new, “smart growth” town close to the president’s Nkandla residence. The location of this project is neither coincidental nor altruistic in nature.

      The president is simply prioritising his own community of Nkandla over other equally impoverished communities in KwaZulu-Natal.

      Even if it were true that this ­initiative was conceptualised before his presidency began, the president should have shown appropriate judgement to avoid a conflict of interests.

      But, of course, Zuma’s fingerprints are all over this project. He is the chairperson of the Masibambisane Rural Initiative, hardly a passive observer with a passing interest.

      The R2billion that has been earmarked for this vanity project could be much better spent on equitably developing projects for many more people in KwaZulu-Natal. Despite claims that this misnamed “smart growth centre” is a public-private partnership, the taxpayer will be expected to foot half СКАЧАТЬ