The public works department this week missed the deadline for answering an access-to-information request by the M&G Centre for Investigative Journalism (amaBhungane) about its R200-million-plus security upgrade to President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead. This came as the department — and the auditor general — continued to duck questions about how much had been spent on the president’s private estate and whether the rules had been followed. In early July the centre lodged a request under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) for financial and contracting records relating to the Nkandla upgrade. The department refused the request in August, claiming that the information was classified because Nkandla is a national key point. The next step was an “internal appeal” to be adjudicated, in this case, by Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi. The centre’s lawyers lodged the appeal on September 10 and should, under the Act, have been answered within 30 days, or by Wednesday this week. No answer had been received by Thursday. You are now a Key Point Meanwhile, former president FW de Klerk told the Mail & Guardian that he received notification early in 2011 that his residence had been declared a national key point. The timing of the letter — more than a decade and a half after he left office — coincided with an internal public works department memorandum leaked to the press recently in which an official wrestled with the problem of who should pay for Nkandla upgrades. This week, Zuma carefully skirted the issue at an event organised by the New Age newspaper. He reportedly said he did not question the government’s security measures. Democratic Alliance MP Anchen Dreyer said this week the auditor general had refused to release a report containing “detailed information on Nkandlagate” to Parliament’s public works committee.
- To see our Paia application, visit amabhungane.co.za/article/2012-10-08-nkandla-home-is-where-the-heart
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