President Jacob Zuma and his family have decided against donations from benefactors and ANC members to help him pay back his R7.8m Nkandla bill, according to a City Press report. They have opted for a home loan instead. Zuma’s family has been at the centre of efforts to secure the loan on their Nkandla property with VBS Mutual Bank, which prides itself on being the only black-owned bank in the country.

City Press says it has learnt from family associates and several people close to the discussions that negotiations were at an advanced stage after the bank and Zuma’s lawyer, Michael Hulley, agreed to terms at a meeting in Sandton last week. However, Zuma will first have to settle the outstanding balance on his current home loan with First National Bank before his private estate can be refinanced.

The report claims the family is wary of the debt being settled ‘in a political way’ and was firmly of the view that the money offered by ANC leaders and members to help the President settle the bill should be declined.

Full City Press report

However, an offer to assist Zuma is already on the table, according to a Sunday Tribune report. It notes a man who has offered to foot the bill says he is doing it to relieve Zuma of stress because he is a father and cannot be left to suffer. Robert Ngwenya, chair of Madibeng Entrepreneurs Forum, made headlines when he, on behalf of the forum, made Zuma the offer.

The property development mogul from Maboloka, outside Brits in the North West, offered to help pay a portion of the R7.8m the Constitutional Court ordered the President to pay. ‘We will help him as much as we can. We are going to go out there to make sure, within a few days, to raise half the costs,’ he said. The offer of help comes despite ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe warning that those who raised funds for the President would be in contempt of court. Ngwenya said Mantashe was referring to political party branches and not entrepreneurs.

Full Sunday tribune report

The DA, meanwhile, has called for transparency on the matter. The DA’s spokesperson on the Presidency, Sej Motau, made the point that even if a loan were taken for Zuma, someone else could pay it back on his behalf. ‘The only way that justice will truly prevail is for Jacob Zuma, and no one else but Jacob Zuma, to pay back every cent,’ he is quoted as saying in a News24 report.

‘To this end, we again demand that all relevant proof of payments be made public, and be furnished to Parliament, in the interest of accountability and transparency,’ Motau added. He said that SA could not allow Zuma to get away with ‘this Nkandla corruption’.

Full News24 report