Costly upgrade at South African president's private home
US$23 million upgrade to president's rural estate follows ANC leaders' pattern of aloofness
New security fences. A medical clinic. Firefighting services added for a helipad. That and other upgrades, all for South African President Jacob Zuma's home to the tune of more than US$23 million in taxpayers' money.
And it's not even an official residence - it's his rural private home.
Zuma, 70, is embroiled in a controversy over the costly additions to his house in a country where millions still lack decent homes, running water, electrical power and adequate access to health and education services.
Shadrack Gutto, a professor of African studies at the University of South Africa, said ordinary South Africans have come to expect little good from the ANC, whose top bosses have become fabulously wealthy even as millions of South Africans remain mired in poverty.
Of the costly renovations to Zuma's private residence Gutto said: "It has to be investigated. It will be a scandal when the truth comes out."
The revelations on the renovation costs of Zuma's rural compound in KwaZulu-Natal come before the ruling African National Congress' (ANC) December conference where Zuma will seek reappointment as the party's leader, and hence its presidential candidate in the 2014 national election.