By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The African National Congress (ANC) has admitted to lying in parliament to defend former president Jacob Zuma’s R3.9 million “fire pool” at his home in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal.
The admission was made by the party’s secretary general, Fikile Mbalula, at Mjindi Town Hall in Barberton, Mpumalanga, on Sunday.
Chairperson Gwede Mantashe says Mbalula got “carried away” adding that the secretary general should be careful of what he says as a leader in the governing party.
“When you lead, you count every word you say; if you don’t, you catch fire,” he said.
Mantashe said Mbalula was carried away by cameras and media presence, became excited, and spilled the beans on some of the party’s secrets.
“I think it’s something he will learn in the trade. As you grow in the trade, you understand that better. You can say things without being excited, but say and explain things very well,” he said.
He said they closed the Nkandla saga a long time ago and asked why it should be opened now.
In response Mbalula said, Mantashe’s criticism of him in the media following the ‘firepool’ remarks was uncalled for and he will not respond to him through the media.
“I’m available, open to counsel from elders and everyone to give me guidance. I’m not immune to any criticism. So, in respect of those protocols, be the first to break them, the national chair could have raised the issues with me if he’s got concerns about what I said,” Mbalula said.
Former police minister Nathi Nhleko, who was one of the ministers who presided over Nkandla upgrades and the fire pool saga, has also slammed Mbalula, describing him as the worst secretary general in the African National Congress’s 112 year history.
In a leaked voice note shared widely on social media on Tuesday morning, Nhleko slammed Mbalula for a lack of strategic and tactical leadership.
Nhleko added that Mbalula was making things worse for the ANC and decried that there was a leadership vacuum since Zuma sent the governing party into a tail spin when he announced on December 16 that he would be joining the MK Party.
He further slammed Mbalula for implicating Cyril Ramaphosa, who was deputy president of the ANC at the time, as every report of the security upgrades went through him.
“I find it amazing that he has the audacity not only to implicate the ANC, but also the president of the ANC because I reported to him [Cyril Ramaphosa] about the security upgrades all the time.”
Nhleko also challenged Mbalula to reveal the source of the instruction to lie about the fire pool.
“Surely there must have been someone who gave me an instruction to lie. Who took that decision in the ANC to instruct me that I needed to lie to parliament and South Africans. He needs to present to us who did that,” he said.
In 2014 then Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found that Zuma “unduly benefited” from upgrades to his private Nkandla residence in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). In the ‘Secure in Comfort’ report Madonsela recommended that Zuma pay back at least part of the estimated R246-million spent on the improvements to the property not related to security.
However senior ANC members continued to back Zuma with Nhleko using his powers to do so.
An Nkandla ad hoc committee which was formed to interrogate Madonsela’s findings adopted Nhleko’s report that Zuma was not liable to pay back public money spent on his Nkandla home.
In 2016, the Constitutional Court found that Zuma failed to uphold the constitution when he ignored a state order to repay some of the government funds used for upgrading his private residence.