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The dark Nkandla cloud over President Jacob Zuma refuses to go away as the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is now under pressure to prosecute or give reasons for not doing so.
The DA has given the NPA until today to say whether it will prosecute Zuma or not for alleged corruption regarding public funds spent on upgrading his home in Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal.
The party laid eight criminal charges against Zuma following the release of former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s report in March 2014, in which he was accused of being complicit in the alleged misappropriation of public funds to upgrade his private residence in Nkandla.
Madonsela had found that proper tender processes had not been followed at any stage, contrary to Treasury regulations.
The upgrade was justified by the public works department, which claimed that the project was urgent, that private works had already started for security reasons, and that only one supplier could perform the particular service required.
Madonsela recommended that Zuma pay for the nonsecurity upgrades at his home, which included a visitors’ centre, an amphitheatre, a swimming pool, a cattle kraal, a culvert, a chicken run and extensive paving.
Since then, the DA has posed a number of parliamentary questions to ministers in the justice, crime prevention and security cluster about progress in the investigation and possible prosecution of the case.
In a written parliamentary reply in March, then police minister Nathi Nhleko said the investigation had been concluded and that the docket was handed to an officer of the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) in August 2015 for a decision on prosecution.
“The decision by the NDPP is still being awaited,” said Nhleko.
Justice Minister Michael Masutha appeared to confirm this in his own written parliamentary submission when he wrote that the matter, which was investigated by the police, was still under consideration by the priority crimes litigation unit of the NPA.
The DA’s lawyers want answers immediately, or today at the latest, as to whether Zuma will be prosecuted or not.
In a letter dated May 8, the party wrote: “It is now three years since the eight criminal charges [were] laid by our clients, with no indication by the office of the NPA whether the eight charges of corruption will be prosecuted or not.”
NPA spokesperson Luvuyo Mfaku confirmed that the prosecuting authority had received the correspondence from the DA’s lawyers and said it would respond accordingly.
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