Judge Mogoeng: SA’s President Zuma To Pay Back For Non-Security Nkandla Features; 'Failed To Uphold The Constitution'

A South African judge of the Constitutional Court, Judge Mogoeng, has ruled that President Jacob Zuma should pay back the money spent on non-security features at his Nkandla residence.

Live media report continues:

Judge Mogoeng says the president or the National Assembly should not have responded to the Public Protector in the way they did.

The judge notes that the president has now agreed to repay the money spent on the non-security upgrades to his private rural residence.

So the question remains on whether the president violated the constitution, the judge says.

He says that the Constitutional Court is obliged to rule on this issue.

The president's failure to comply with the remedial action taken against him by the Public Protector - ie that he should repay the money - is inconsistent with his duty to uphold the constitution, the judge says.

Judge Mogoeng reminds the court of the ruling by the Public Protector that President Jacob Zuma should pay back the money spent on non-security features at his Nkandla residence.

The features in question were:

o   Cattle kraal

o   Chicken run

o   Swimming pool

o   Amphitheatre

o   Visitor centre

The judge says that the president was entitled to inquire into whether the Public Protector was correct.

But he should have gone to the judiciary rather than asked for an alternative government report.