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Madonsela: No more should be spent to fix Nkandla neglect

Pretoria - No more money should be spent repairing the neglect or making further additions at President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla home, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela said on Monday.

"In the report we did indicate that no additional money should be spent on further expanding the reach of the upgrades. But when you are completing what was not completed, I don't think it will be reasonable for anyone to say it shouldn't be done," she told reporters in Pretoria.

"But it would be sad if they are spending because of neglect."

An in loco inspection by Parliament's ad-hoc committee on Nkandla on July 22 revealed that some parts of the homestead had fallen into disrepair. Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi said the neglect was because ongoing investigations had disrupted the project.

Police Minister Nathi Nhleko said on July 21 that more money might have to be spent on the homestead, because the public scrutiny had compromised Zuma's security.

Madonsela on Monday said her office was not tasked with investigating the neglect at Nkandla. This was something Nxesi and Nhleko should look into.

"At the time we were just looking at what was installed. Was it in line with the regulatory framework and was it decided by the appropriate structures?

"There seems to have been neglect. That's something that needs, of course, to be investigated by the minister [Nxesi] and the minister of police urgently, because if some of those things deteriorate they will need more money to fix," she said.

Madonsela said whatever needed to be done had to be done in accordance with the law.

In her report on Nkandla, entitled "Secure in Comfort", released in March 2014, she said the implications of installing features that required maintenance for life had to be considered.

"Securing private households was supposed to be an exception to the rule, because ordinarily government provides residences for functionaries at the level of president, deputy president and others.

"When people are considering expanding things that needed to be installed, they should have thought of the implications for lifetime maintenance."

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