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Parliament - The Presidency does not keep track of meetings and functions at Nkandla, it has said.
This was in response to a written parliamentary question from DA leader Mmusi Maimane, who wanted to know the number of government functions held at President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead since January last year.
In a reply published on Tuesday, Zuma’s office simply told Maimane: "The Presidency does not keep a record of the number of meetings and functions held at the private residence of the president."
Earlier this year, Police Minister Nathi Nhleko said all the upgrades to the president’s Nkandla homestead were necessary security upgrades, and that a head of state needed a place to host high profile guests.
Maimane said the presidency’s response on Tuesday was an evasive tactic to avoid the truth that the upgrades to his private residence could not be justified, and amounted to the theft of public funds.
"The President cannot in the same breath claim that the upgrades to Nkandla are necessary for the discharge of official duties, but then fall short of providing details of what these duties entail and invoke the issue of it being his private residence in doing so. The President is seeking to have his bread buttered on both sides."
The DA leader said Tuesday’s written reply contradicted the president’s August reply on functions at his homestead.
In the reply, Zuma told the DA that he held many functions at both his official residence and at Nkandla.
"Guests at the residences include heads of state and government, cabinet ministers and deputy ministers, meetings with traditional leaders, premiers, mayors and other leaders in local government, religious leaders, ordinary members of the public, ambassadors, and heads of state and government."
Maimane said the president needed to do what was right in terms of accounting for the money spent on his Nkandla homestead.
