Former president Jacob Zuma’s dream of building a massive town on the doorstep of his Nkandla compound appears to have gone up in smoke — with millions of taxpayer rands wasted.
The R2bn project is a shambles, with only a R16m information technology (IT) centre having been built since "Zumaville"‚ as it was dubbed‚ was first mooted about halfway through Zuma’s first term in office.
But six years later and with millions of rand already wasted‚ very little progress has been made.
The architects who designed the town‚ Johannesburg-based Mashabane Rose Associates and Kombani Consulting‚ were embroiled in a legal battle over unpaid fees. Mashabane Rose Associates director Phill Mashabane confirmed it was no longer part of the project and that Kombani Consulting had "since disappeared from the business landscape".
Department of rural development and land reform spokesperson Linda Page said the department does not know how much the planned town will cost‚ has not appointed a developer and the master plan has been overtaken by other developments‚ such as RDP housing in Nxamalala.
Ingonyama Trust Board chair judge Jerome Ngwenya said it was a legal requirement for a development that prior written consent from the relevant traditional council be obtained first. He said the board had no record of this for Zumaville.
The spokesperson for the KwaZulu-Natal premier’s office, Thami Ngidi, did not respond to queries about the project‚ while the Treasury said it was last involved in the project in 2014.
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