Mbalula’s admission ANC lied about Zuma’s Nkandla fire pool ‘an insult to constitution’

African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has been highly criticised for admitting that his party lied to South Africans about former president Jacob Zuma‘s swimming pool at his home in Nkandla.

Addressing members of the ANC at the Mjindi Town Hall in Barberton on Sunday, Mbalula took South Africans back to 2014, when then public protector Thuli Madonsela found in her report that former president Jacob Zuma should repay some of the money spent on the “security measures” done in Nkandla.

Among these security measures was a R3.9-million swimming pool, which senior ANC members said was a fire pool, and necessary to have in case of a fire.

Almost 10 years later, Mbalula in an attempt to expose Zuma as an ungrateful person for the protection he received from the ruling party, told South Africans members of the ruling party lied about the swimming pool.

His comments came weeks after Zuma announced he would neither campaign nor vote for “Cyril Ramaphosa‘s ANC”.

“In defence of our president, we opened an ad-hoc committee in Parliament and said a swimming pool is a fire pool. It’s difficult to explain lies but we said that swimming pool was a fire pool. People have lost their careers because of that thing,” said Mbalula.

“The Constitutional Court, led by Mogoeng Mogoeng released a judgment against Jacob Zuma, and said he was not fit for office, but the ANC stood by him. It was not said by me that he’s not fit for office, it was in a court judgment. Today Zuma says he can’t stand President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has not even suffered any court blow.

“We are disappointed, but we are not surprised. We didn’t want him to go, we didn’t want him to go to the party. We are shocked but not surprised when a former president of the ANC takes such a decision.”

Mbalula: Cutting nose to spite face?

Mbalula has now been criticised for admitting that members of the ruling party lied to protect their president, as people question whether the ruling party is repeating history with the Phala Phala robbery saga.

In a statement on Monday, NotInMyName civil rights movement slammed Mbalula’s comments as an insult to the country’s constitution and parliament.

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“The SG’s statements make us wonder how many other occasions has the ruling party had to lie ‘in defence of their president’, both past and present – most notably, the Phala Phala farm gate scandal,” said the organisation.

“As members of the civil society in South Africa, #NotInMyName wishes to call upon ordinary South Africans to register to vote better in the upcoming 2024 National and Provincial Government Elections. For many years we have been told to vote with our consciences, it is time to vote with our lived experiences – no lights, no jobs, and no ethical leaders.”

Chief Whip of the DA in parliament Siviwe Gwarube said she hoped Mbalula’s comments showed South Africans the ruling party never cared about them.

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“This infuriates me. Mbalula casually tells people they lied in Parliament about Jacob Zuma’s plundering of public money eNkandla. Makes light of it; says ‘kunzima u-defenda ubuxoki [it’s difficult to defend lies]’. As the ANC implodes, I hope we all see they never cared about SA. Saze sagezelwa as a country.,” she said.

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) national spokesperson Sinawo Thambo labelled Mbalula as a “monumental liability” to the “already broken credibility of the ANC”.

“A statement is loading, to clarify his admission that they deliberately lied about the swimming pool being a fire pool. The problem is the obsession with the podium and wanting to counter Jacob Zuma,” he said.

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba commented: “These are some of the reasons why some of us are in politics today, leaving the comforts of running our businesses. We couldn’t take the lies and deceit of the ANC. Saving our country became a priority. The price is worth fighting.”

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