President Jacob Zuma was provided with exhaustive details about progress on the security project at his Nkandla complex in November 2010, documents provided to the M&G Centre for Investigative Journalism on Thursday show. They cast doubt on his vehement denial in Parliament last week that he was unaware of the scale of construction.
The documents, which refer euphem*istically to the Nkandla expansion as "prestige project A", reveal how Zuma's supposed private contribution dwindled by half from more than R20-million to slightly more than R10-million, while the total costs more than doubled.
They also show that taxpayer money was also spent on buildings for the personal use of the Zuma family and not only for new, adjoining security infrastructure, as claimed by the department of public works when first confronted about the R250-million spent on Nkandla.
Also clear from the documents are the large contributions expected from the department of public works for the completion of buildings that Zuma told Parliament were entirely paid for by his family, particularly a new guest residence and two new private residences.
The documents also show that at least one minister became involved in the nitty-gritty of construction at the site after delays mounted.
Although the Mail & Guardian has been unable to verify all the documents independently, some of which are marked "top secret", the timing and some of the details corroborate information previously provided by a highly placed source.
Overseeing the work
Perhaps the most damning of the documents is a letter addressed to Zuma in which the then newly appointed public works minister, Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde, writes: "I have taken the view that it is prudent to update you on the progress of the above prestige project", before giving precise expected completion dates for 17 individual components of construction. The letter contains an even more detailed progress report from the project managers responsible for overseeing the work.
Last week Zuma told Parliament he was not aware of the cost of the security installation at Nkandla.
"What the government did, given its own considerations of security, was to build other houses beyond my home for the security personnel," he said during an off-the-cuff answer to questions. "These are not shown on television and these are really the government's houses, but I do not know how much they cost … Now, I do not know where this amount of money went to."
His answer to Parliament focused on three elements of the security upgrade: fencing, bulletproof windows and an underground bunker. But the documents show that he was also kept abreast of progress on a tuck shop, a sewerage treatment plant, the upgrading of water supplies and other elements.
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