South African President, Jacob Zuma to Return the Money He Used to Upgrade His Personal House

 

 

The president of South African, Jacob Zuma, has agreed to pay back some of the public funds he used to upgrade his personal house.

 

This disclosure was contained in a statement released on Tuesday, by the president’s office.

 

A judicial ruling in 2014 stated that Zuma, and his family, ‘benefited unduly’ from works carried out on the South African president’s rural home in Nkandla. This has sparked a two year scandal, which has brought great embarrassment to the South African presidency, a situation, analysts say, Zuma is trying to end by paying back the said funds.

 

Listed on the security upgrades was a swimming pool which was described as a fire fighting facility, a chicken run, a cattle enclosure, an amphitheater and a visitor’ lounge.

 

The upgrades done in 2014 on the property were said to be worth about 216m rand ($24m). The statement, however, did not state how much Zuma will return.

 

“To achieve an end to the drawn-out dispute … the president proposes that the determination of the amount he is to pay should be independently and impartially determined,” the statement from the South African president office, read.

 

President Zuma has been severally accused of giving corruption a growing space since he assumed the presidency in 2009.