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Businessmen in Madibeng furnished President Jacob Zuma with praise, cows and an undisclosed amount of money to help him pay back the R7.8 million he owes for his upgrades to his Nkandla home.
Speaking on behalf of the Madibeng Business Forum, Robert Ngwenya pledged financial support to Zuma while he was on the campaign trail in the North West yesterday.
Click here to watch video of Ngwenya pledging support to help pay for the Nkandla upgrades
“We know you are going through a difficult time, president, and we feel your pain, but president ... the businesspeople of Madibeng ... don’t want even one person to tell us that we can’t help you pay for your home,” Ngwenya said.
“We are going to pay that money. When we read the judgment it never said [that nobody else could not] pay for you. We have decided we will be the first branch. We are going to pay that money; we are going to contribute.”
The businessman said that the president had been instrumental in improving the lives of many and particularly those in business in that region.
But the generosity did not end with the president’s home. Ngwenya said that they had also put together some money for six cows for Zuma.
“With these cows we say: president, be strong.”
Following a landmark judgment at the Constitutional Court in February this year, Zuma was ordered to pay for additional upgrades to his Nkandla home. The amount was to be determined by the national treasury, which settled on R7.8 million.
A number of business people and some branches of the ANC also indicated that they would be willing to put funds together to settle the president’s bill.
