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Zuma put Nkandla on the map for all the wrong reasons - mayor

Amanda Khoza, News24

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2016-08-02 07:42

Nkandla mayor Thami Ntuli (Amanda Khoza, News24)

Nkandla – President Jacob Zuma has put Nkandla on the map for all the wrong reasons, said Nkandla Mayor Thami Ntuli on Monday.

"This is where the president of the country lives, however in terms of the development, he never had an influence. There was no value in having the president come from Nkandla in terms of development," said Ntuli.

The mayor of three years was speaking to News24 from his office at the Nkandla Municipality in the small town. The IFP governs the municipality.

Zuma was recently ordered to pay R7.8m for non-security upgrades at his Nkandla homestead.

News24 recently reported that a Constitutional Court document posted on social media read: "Having regard to paragraphs 7 and 8 of its order of 31 March 2016, this Court signifies, with effect from the date of this letter, its approval of the amount of R7, 814, 155 as at June 2009, set out in the paragraph of the Report by National Treasury submitted to the Court on 27 June 2016."

All the wrong reasons

Ntuli on Monday said it was unfortunate that the small town had become famous for the misuse of taxpayers' money and lavish spending at Zuma's homestead in kwaNxamalala village, about 50km from the Nkandla CBD.

However, he said it should have been a good thing that Zuma had come from the area.

"We believe that it [his being from Nkandla] should have had an impact in enhancing service delivery. There are backlogs in the municipality in terms of service delivery. People are still poor and unemployed and there are a lot of social ills that need to be addressed."

He said Zuma had put Nkandla on the South African map for all the wrong reasons.

"The R7.8m we are seeing is bad publicity for Nkandla, we have been in the news for all the wrong reasons. We are in the news for using taxpayers money for the president's home."

Ntuli said the homestead was a waste of taxpayers' money.

Political killings

When asked about his relationship with the ANC, the IFP mayor said his party planned to retain the municipality.

He said there were no tensions between councillors in the municipalities it governs.

He added the political killings in the province were mostly of ANC councillors. "We have not had councillors killed here."

About 12 people, mostly ANC members, have been killed in the province in what were believed to be politically motivated killings.

Ntuli said the IFP was not only going to retain the municipality, but it was going to improve its performance.

"In 2011, no political party won Nkandla. Prior to that the IFP was leading the municipality and in 2011, the IFP and the National Freedom Party formed a coalition. In 2012 December, the ANC councillor died and when we went for a by-election that is when we won back the municipality.”

He said people who left the IFP for the NFP had returned.

"Right now there is no NFP in Nkandla, even the deputy mayor from the NFP, he is now back with the IFP. We have grown from strength to strength."

Ntuli said the citizens of Nkandla were confident in the IFP.

ConCourt approves R7.8m Zuma must pay for Nkandla

2016-07-26 15:26

Nkandla (Matthew Middleton/News24)

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Cape Town - The Constitutional Court on Tuesday said it had approved the amount of R7.8m that President Jacob Zuma must pay for non-security upgrades at his Nkandla residence.

This comes after Treasury calculated that this was the amount payable by the president.

A Constitutional Court document posted on social media read: " Having regard to paragraphs 7 and 8 of its order of 31 March 2016, this Court signifies, with effect from the date of this letter, its approval of the amount of R7, 814, 155 as at June 2009, set out in the paragraph of the Report by National Treasury submitted to the Court on 27 June 2016."

Zuma has 45 days from today [Tuesday] to pay the money.

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RACING CAR DRIVER GUGU ZULU DIES WHILE CLIMBING MOUNT KILIMANJARO

Zulu was part of an initiative that saw South Africans try summit the mountain for Mandela Day.

South African racing car driver Gugu Zulu with his wife. Picture: Facebook.

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Eyewitness News | about 7 hours ago

JOHANNESBURG – South African racing car driver Gugu Zulu has died today while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

The 38-year-old was part of the Trek4Mandela initiative that saw prominent South Africans try to summit the mountain for Mandela Day.

He was on the mountain with his wife, Letshego Zulu, and other well-known South Africans and he experienced problems breathing last night.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation’s Neeran Naidoo said, “We spoke to two members this morning and we understand he had problems breathing last night. The medical team on site put him onto a drip and brought him down from the mountain. They tried everything possible to save his life but unfortunately we lost Gugu this morning.”

Zulu was a celebrated and well-established racing driver for Volkswagen.

The foundation has also extended its sincere condolences to the Zulu family.

In a statement by the foundation a short while ago, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation Sello Hatang said, “I am devastated. I knew him well. I recruited him to climb Kilimanjaro. The last thing he said to me at the airport before he left last week was that he wanted to speak about doing other Mandela Day projects. I feel a huge sense of loss.”

Everyone can honour Nelson Mandela: Mashatile Monday 18 July 2016 16:53 The African National Congress’s (ANC) Gauteng chairperson, Paul Mashatile say all South Africans including opposition parties, have an inherent right to honour former President Nelson Mandela. Mashatile on Monday joined Gauteng Premier David Makhura, Tshwane mayoral candidate Thoko Didiza, former political prisoner Ahmed Kathrada and others in forming a circle of unity around Madiba's statue at the Union Buildings for Mandela Day. Recently, the Mandela family and many others hit out at the Democratic Alliance (DA) for using Madiba's voice in a campaign advertisement. “So if anybody comes here from the opposition they also want to honour Madiba, we would not have problem as the ANC, because he is the father of the Nation. But there are also those who are trying to divorce him from the ANC, which I think is wrong because Madiba made it clear that he will remain a member of the ANC until he dies. And even when he is dead he will look for the branch of the ANC. So you can never divorce him from the ANC,” says Mashatile. Click below to watch for more: Share this page: Printer friendly version

Mandela family takes part in 67 minutes Monday 18 July 2016 10:35 Founder and chair of the Thembekile Mandela Foundation Ndileka Mandela. Founder and chair of the Thembekile Mandela Foundation and the daughter of Nelson Mandela's late eldest son Thembekile Mandela, Ndileka, will start Monday morning cleaning up a municipality office followed by a lunch for 500 people to mark the UN sanctioned Nelson Mandela Day. Speaking on Morning Live, she says Mandela family members are in different places around the country taking part in different initiatives. She says, "We are all involved in some way or another in the 67 minutes as instructed by my grandfather." Her foundation will also use the day to launch the freedom walk where corporates are encouraged to join in to touch the lives of 67 communities matching the 67 minutes. "We want to uplift communities especially rural communities with infrastructure development, computer labs, science labs as well as libraries." Mandela says she is hoping that the programme can be extended to the rest of Africa. For more watch below: