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Johannesburg - President Jacob Zuma told supporters at an ANC election rally in Mpumalanga on Thursday that he had not wrongfully benefited from the upgrade to his Nkandla home.
Zuma rejected Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's finding that he had benefited from the project, reminding supporters that he was cleared in an earlier inter-ministerial report.
"Nkandla has its own processes," he said.
"She said there was 'undue benefit'... I’m still looking for it."
Committee
Meanwhile, a special 12-member committee created by Parliament to consider the president's response to Madonsela's findings on the Nkandla upgrade sat for the first time on Thursday, two weeks after its formation was announced.
Opposition parties argued that Zuma and Madonsela should appear before the ad hoc committee.
"I don't see why anybody would not want to come and respond to the allegations against them," Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko said.
"We hope people will be willing to accept an invitation, but this committee has the legal power to subpoena anybody," she said.
The committee is chaired by National Assembly house chairperson Cedric Frolick and is due to finish its work by 30 April.
It will only reconvene on Monday, making an exhaustive inquiry into Madonsela's findings regarding the R246m spent on improvements at the president's private Nkandla homestead in KwaZulu-Natal unlikely.
Madonsela found that Zuma had unduly benefited from the project funded by the public purse and should repay money used to build, among other things, a kraal, chicken run, swimming pool and amphitheatre.
