South African President, Jacob Zuma, has
welcomed the court judgement asking him to pay back part of the money
spent on upgrading his Nkandla homestead.
Zuma said in a televised address to the
nation on Friday that he was willing to pay back money spent on
non-security related upgrades at the house.
The President, in the address, urged “all parties to respect the judgement and will abide by it.”
“Let us use the judgement to build and further strengthen our democracy,” he added.
South Africa’s top court held on
Thursday that President Jacob Zuma defied the constitution when he used
$15m state funds to renovate his private home and ordered a refund.
The 11 justices of the country’s
Constitutional Court had unanimously ruled that the President should
reimburse some of the sum spent on the renovations, the amount of which
will be determined by the national treasury.
Opposition parties had filed two cases, alleging misuse of public funds over the hefty price tag.
Zuma, therefore, apologised any
inconvenience that the prolonged matter might have caused his people,
saying, “The matter has caused a lot of frustration and confusion, for
which I apologise, on my behalf and on behalf of government.”
A full text of Zuma’s address as reported on News24 read
in part, “Yesterday, the Constitutional Court of the Republic, playing
this crucial role, issued a judgement on the matter of security upgrades
at my private residence in Nkandla.
“I welcome the judgement of the Constitutional Court unreservedly.
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