Watchdog slams Zuma’s home security revamp

South Africa’s president Jacob Zuma personally benefited from the controversial security renovations at his private home and must repay the state, according to a damning watchdog report leaked in a local newspaper.

Government has spent more than 200 million rand (€14.44m) to revamp Zuma’s rural home, justifying it as necessary security for a head of state. But a government watchdog has found that some of the so-called security upgrades were “improperly” weaved into the project at “enormous cost” to the taxpayer, the weekly Mail & Guardian reported.

A swimming pool, an outdoor amphitheatre, visitors’ waiting area, a cattle enclosure, houses for the president’s relatives and “extensive” paving, were some of the extras that did not necessarily fit into security features, according to a yet-unpublished report by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela.