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Cape Town - The ad hoc committee on Nkandla had unanimously agreed that the swimming pool at President Jacob Zuma's home was not a fire pool, ANC MP Thandi Mahambehlala said on Wednesday.
She was addressing DA leader Mmusi Maimane who earlier said he refused to call the facility a fire pool because it was an insult.
"Maimane is telling us about a fire pool which is in actual fact a swimming pool. It is a pity you were not part of our meeting in Pietermaritzburg," Mahambehlala told Maimane.
"All of us as committee members unanimously agreed that is not a fire pool, it is a swimming pool which is used as a reliable water resource in the case of any fire that might erupt."
Maimane also said the aesthetics of the pool suggested that it was meant for swimming. There was an entertainment area and it was tiled.
However, Mahambehlala disputed this saying no one could swim in that pool because it had no chlorine and she did not see any entertainment area.
"My understanding of a swimming pool meant for entertainment is that it must have chlorine, it must be clean and what have you.
"What we saw there, no one could swim in it. It had no chlorine. To come here and say there is an entertainment area there, we don't see any such area there. There are no walls for privacy."
Mahambehlala told Maimane off for saying he should not try to "create an impression because we see all these cameras when we all of us were in Nkandla and saw exactly what transpired there".
