WITHOUT A PADDLE
It was a lie — Mbalula admits ANC tricked Parliament to protect Zuma in Nkandla ‘fire pool’ debacle
An angry ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula dropped a bombshell about the party lying in order to support then-president Jacob Zuma when he was under fire for the upgrades done on his Nkandla Homestead in KwaZulu Natal.
The ANC and its top officials once heavily backed their former leader Jacob Zuma for the exorbitant funds spent on upgrades on his Nkandla Home. However, party Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula has revealed that the party had misled Parliament to protect the former president.
Speaking on Sunday in Barberton, Mpumalanga, Mbalula conceded the party had misled Parliament to defend its then-president.
“We went to Parliament and opened an ad hoc committee and said a swimming pool is a fire pool. The [then] police minister [Nathi Nhleko] was sweating, seeing that this was a lie, because it is difficult to explain lies. People have lost their careers because of that thing.”
Read more in Daily Maverick: Zuma’s new political party trick and the head-scratching horseplay of Men Saying Things
In 2014, then-Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found that Zuma “unduly benefited” from upgrades to his private Nkandla residence in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). In the ‘Secure in Comfort’ report, Madonsela recommended that Zuma pay back at least part of the estimated R246-million spent on the improvements to the property not related to security.
However, senior ANC members continued to back Zuma with Nathi Nhleko using his powers to do so.
Nkosinathi Nhleko wipes his brow as he releases the findings in the Nkandla report on 20 May 2015 in Cape Town. (Photo: Gallo Images / Beeld / Deon Raath)
During what became an infamous press briefing in 2015, Nhleko exonerated Zuma of all accountability over the upgrade costs at his Nkandla home.
An Nkandla ad hoc committee which was formed to interrogate Madonsela’s findings adopted Nhleko’s report that Zuma was not liable to pay back public money spent on his Nkandla home.
Nhleko’s report contradicted that of Madonsela.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Analysis: Is Zuma/ANC starting a battle for the soul of SA judiciary?
In 2016, the Constitutional Court found that Zuma failed to uphold the Constitution when he ignored a state order to repay some of the government funds used for upgrading his private residence.
The court also ruled that Parliament, which is dominated by the ruling African National Congress, had failed in its obligations by not holding Zuma to account.
Read more in Daily Maverick: ‘No court in the country interrogated Nkandla report’ – Nhleko
Mbalula reiterated how the party continued to stand by the former president despite this.
“It went to the constitutional court and, while we were voting, Mogoeng Mogoeng [former chief justice] in a damning judgment said [Zuma] was not fit for office. We still defended him but, today, he says he cannot tolerate [President Cyril Ramaphosa], who has not been issued with a damning judgment,” he said.
Mbalula then said the ANC is “disappointed but not surprised” by the former president’s decision to ditch the party in the upcoming elections.
Read more in Daily Maverick: ANC KZN condemns Zuma’s ‘gross ill-discipline’ for support of new party
“The ANC didn’t expel Jacob Zuma. He has expelled himself and his interpretation that he is still a member till he dies and is not leaving is his own interpretation. You want to be happy [on] both sides, it doesn’t work like that.
“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 is among the ANC bigwigs who were displeased by Zuma’s decision to ditch the governing party and campaign for the uMkhonto Wesizwe party instead.
In an announcement made in December, Zuma said he would be campaigning for the new MK party for the 2024 elections.
He accused Ramaphosa of being an agent of “white monopoly capital” and being against the progress of black professionals and intellectuals.
He added that he could not “campaign for the ANC of Ramaphosa”.
Mbalula took to X on Monday evening to clarify his comments regarding Zuma’s “fire pool”, saying he was speaking “just in case someone wants to deliberately twist” his words.
“I made general statements about how the ANC ‘defended’ former President JZ when he was accused of corruption and other official misconduct connected with Nkandla.
“First, we must agree that it was the duty of the organisation to fully understand the facts upon which the opposition parties base their corruption accusations and charges that followed before it could act.
“As such, the ANC, as I so eloquently argued, was duty bound to [allow] parliamentary structures to investigate the serious accusations.
“Such a move was precisely to protect the ANC President from being unfairly overrun by the malevolent opposition.
“What is important to expose here is that by affording the President due process of law, which was his right under our constitution, the ANC was protecting its president.
“I fairly reported that the matter was ventilated in the courts, as it was supposed to be, and the chips fell where the Constitutional Court said they should fall.” DM
OMG, as if we did not know. You could see they lied through their teeth about the ‘Firepool’. The problem with the ANC is there is absolutely no moral fibre left in any of them!
This begs the big question and hopefully Fikile can answer:
About what else is the ANC lying?
Everything. Obviously!
While any thinking person would have snorted with derisive laughter at the lies and excuses offered by the ANC, such as the alleged firepool, the joke’s on those same thinking people. The sad reality is that millions upon millions in SA have not been blessed with the ability to think and don’t possess BS filters, and have voted for the same ANC in election after election, after the firepool stories came out. The scenario in the science fiction short story by CM Kornbluth, The Marching Morons, is an actual thing in SA.
Hahaha! Agree with the “Marching Morons.”
It takes a truly stupid man to believe that admitting to ANC lies and manipulation years after the event can in any way be seen as beneficial to that party.
100%. And admitting to lying to parliament no less! But leave aside the lying … they don’t get my vote purely because of their unbelievable stupidity in admitting their deceitful actions simply to discredit an already discredited and washed out has been.
He is right that they lied but wrong that anybody ws tricked. “Tricked” implies we fell for it, but it was always known as a lie.
Anyone who believed that they were telling the truth about Nkandla needs to take an IQ test…
Sadly IQ test results aren’t flattering in this neck of the woods. According to an Ulster Institute study in 2019 we average 68.87. That may explain how a party with a cretin like Mbalula as its COO has been in power for quite as long they have.
If Frikkie is with us no more it will go back to 100.
You forget: IQ tests generally are based on your knowledge and dont really have much to do with cognitive ability. That 68 odd result is an epic indictment of the substandard quality of education we foist on our kids in this country and says absolutely nothing about the general populations actual intelligence or lack there of.
You have this exactly the wrong way around. IQ tests do NOT measure knowledge and are all about cognitive ability.
If IQs are low and knowledge is scarce, we then perhaps have the reason why the ANC is still in power.
Nope. You’ve got that arse about face.
. . . and if you have a look at the Ulster Institute report you’ll see by quite how much.
Have you ever seen what an IQ test is all about? How can you be so misinformed?
No, Hidden Name.
They don’t have low IQ’s because they do not learn much in school – the other way round: they do not learn much in school because they have low IQ’s,
Calling any group of people dumb puts you at peril of being blindsided. People are complex and react to incentives differently. If our politicians get away with blatant untruths we need to understand the society that generates this outcome, with as little judgement as possible (in order to plan to move forward).
Had a look at the Ulster Institute world “IQ score”. It is nuanced and probably not very useful.
IQ scores are standardized to have an average of 100 and and standard deviation of 15. South-Africa’s score of below 70 puts us in the bottom 2.5% of the world population from an intelligence point of view, but we are in the 33rd in the world by GDP (PPP).
The reason that this does not stack up so well is because the world average IQ according to the Ulster score is 82 (bottom 15% IQ). The metric is not standardized and will lead to erroneous comparison with other countries.
Outcomes are what they are. You can sugar coat the reasons that people do stupid things as much as is required to make you feel better but it doesn’t change the essential quality of those actions much less the outcomes that result. I think it’s much riskier pretending that people who consistently do stupid things are something other than stupid. Keeping the ANC in power for 30 years easily meets my definition of stupid in much the same way as keeping the Nats in for 40 did.
NOTHING HAS CHANGED – they are still lying.
And in other news water is found to be wet.
Nothing new here, Folks. Move along.
Liars, thieves, and criminals – the lot of them.
He is telling us something everybody already knew. It is obviously sour grapes now, but at the same time by admitting that the ANC did not hold Zuma to account, it strikes me as how do the ANC not get held to account. Obviously they account to parliament, but they the majority. It makes one think twice about the democratic principle of majority rule I.e. who watches the watchers? Hope that this is taken into account by the voting public in the up comming elections. It also makes one think we’re the MK party will take votes from and how many, and would it be large enough to make a dent out of the ANC, considering zuma has a large following. Also EFF and IFP.
Normally we would refer to somebody making this kind of admission as a Whistleblower!
Whilst we all know that the ‘fire-pool’ (cue dramatic music) story was BS, Fikile has just admitted the ad hoc committee which was established was set up with the sole intention of exonerating JZ, to discredit the Public Protectors findings and mislead the public.
If I didn’t know better (that Mbalula is the idiot the village is missing) I would swear he was working for some or other opposition party
The village is certainly not missing him. Now that he has been found, I doubt if the villagers will want him back.
They are currently protecting their sitting president against serious forex transgressions…
What else is not a lie? They must write a book on how to ruin a country they are experts
And in other breaking news… water is wet!!! Since this lie was admitted, why not just tell us, the public, how much you’ve all stolen and broken? We know that too!
Eish. From just being Fix Fokol Mbalula, he’s now Unscrupulous Liar Fix Fokol Mbalula. Officially. We all knew it, but in a rarest moment of clarity and honesty, the buffoon had confirmed it.
I am a new member. I’m a pensioner. So far dont have any comment but just happy to be in the DM family. Thanks
Welcome!
You’ll get into the swings and roundabouts here in no time!
Surely there must be some law about BLATANT LIES being told to parliament???
Worse that lying about your personal interests, wealth etc..
Or will this also be swept under the proverbial carpet?
Like so many others???
South Africa’s parliament is a lie!!
There can’t be a law about lying in our parliament because the members refer to each other as “The Honourable” which in most cases is a lie. Mr Fix Fokol has just confirmed that.
The only thing that the anc has done consistently since its inception is lie
Unfair! They have also done a bang up job of looting to the tune of 50 or 60 billion annually. Can you imagine how much work that requires? You may not like them but credit where credit’s due.
Yet one more of those common thieves ,he believes his name says it all ,well chap you will never ARRIVE. Anc rubbish
Coming up to the elections we can then say with complete confidence – Fikile, we know implicitly when you open your mouth a lie is coming out, just like Zuma’s firepool.
It’s so sad that the DA is seen by so many people only being right wing white mans party [ for good reason] While running the only functioning province in SA by example, it as seen by many black people as the reincarnation of Malan’s racist Nationalist party . Well it is not . Look closer at how Premier Alan Winde does his job as an honest devoted hard working civil servant. But no . He’s the wrong sex and colour. And so it’s off to the polls for thousands of disillusioned former ANC supporters to vote for the EFF [ from the frying pan into the fire] or not vote at all . What a waste. If only the DA had a better public image and more black representation. Let’s hope that the DA along with other political parties that have the interest of the country rather than their personal interests of power and ego driven self enrichment as their agenda, team up and pull us out of the abyss.
“If only the DA had a better public image and more black representation.”
They appoint according to ability, not race and gender?
Watch any interviews or read any press statements by Western Cape premier Alan Winde, Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, and Umgeni mayor Chris Pappas. On any topic from dog licences to the really important national questions we face, or watch how they have dealt with the day to day crises which face us as South Africans. It is obvious that these three are head and shoulders, and probably trunk and legs as well, ahead of ANY ANC politician. And yes they are DA, white and male. They are superb men, leaders and politicians.
The DA is the most representative party of all nationalities in SA
Where do you get only white an male
How can one be “shocked but not surprised”?
Oh please, that fire pool story fooled nobody and it was anyway a minor thing.
Stop beating about the bush and rather spill the beans on where former prisoner zuma’s real skeletons are buried. Somebody must those Dubai, Hong Kong and Moscow account details copied somewhere?
How is this news?
Sadly admitting to being liars is unlikely to make one Iota of a difference to their voting public.
So very true and so very sad at the same time
So does his mean that JayZee must pay back the money, stop living off the largesse of the tax payer and go straight to jail? What a circus, really.
When the ANC says that it LIES it is not LYING! The ANC tells the truth!
Foot in mouth disease. Lying by a public officer is a prosecutable and punishable offence, an admission of guilt automatically disqualifies everyone who lied from holding public office.
If one goes onto Google Earth and zooms in on Zuma’s house – 28.843968°S 31.099414°E – the swimming pool is a grey green colour – obviously never used even for the amusement of the police guards who live there. Going back through Google Earth imagery one can see that it was never clean – justa total waste of our money.
That same fire pool will BURN them in the May elections. They have a complete disregard for the people and their intelligence in this country. Disgusting and disgraceful. They will stew in their own juice and their will be no mercy for them. Mercy SPARES one from WHAT YOU DO. They will not be spared. They have taken this nation for fools long enough, but the joke is going to be on them.
Mbalula at his usual low level of intelligence. The man spouts so much crap that even when he is truthful people no longer believe him. He is adamant that the ANC was protecting Zuma on the fire pool issue but neglects to say that in the same manner, the party as a whole, refused to allow no-confidence votes against Zuma to take place in parliament. He was protected by the ANC in every way possible to the absolute detriment of South Africa. The fire pool issue became a national joke it was so ridiculous. Mbalula now finally admits that the ANC government of South Africa had descended to an unbelievable level of stupidity by expecting the citizens of this country to accept this as a good reason to have their taxes used to pay for it. And pay for it we did. What next Mr. Mbalula? Possibly a holiday in Dubai for you and your family disguised as a state visit and paid for by the over burdened SA tax payers?
Forgive my ignorance of the obscurities of Parly rules; but shouldn’t it act immediately? Should the presiding officers not immediately approach the office of the Public Protector to investigate Parliament in this respect – before the DA, General Holomisa, the Eff or others? If legislators voted knowingly that they were misleading the country – shouldn’t we save ourselves from such nonsense in the future by… firing them. Fining them. Banning them from bearing office. Immediately.
Isn’t it perjury to lie to parliament?
See the surprise on all our faces!!??? Fikile told a LIE!!???? Well I never!…..
One of many many lies. What are the repercussions for lying to parliament? Remember the ANC turned on Ms Thuli Madonsela? Talking truth to power can work, but telling the truth to practised liars is casting pearls to swine. Hoping there will be stiff penalties – a pipe dream?
May we know All the lies the Anc has told us please, this is disgusting.
So was he honest about lying,
or lying about being honest?
I am SO confused right now, I need to go take a swim in my fire extinguisher!
Well done Mbacks but not that well. You all lied under Oath in Parliament and worse you are still lying to the nation that you did it to protect JZ. No no no . You did it to protect your own interests and your positions. The ANC pushed Nhleko to go against the Public Protector’s findings and recommendations. They lied as they are still lying about the Phala Phala and Bheki Cele must stand there and protect true lies of Ramaphosa. We are waiting for more lies in protecting Blade and NESFAS CEO. ” Winter is coming”.
The most amazing part about the “Firepool” lie was the compliance with SANS 10400T National Building Regulations (Fire) regarding thatch buildings. These do not include options to install “Firepools.” As much as I admire Thuli Madonsela that is one question she should have asked. The whole country knows the ANC MPs are there to serve the ANC and not South Africa. Competence, integrity, and fiduciary responsibility do not form part of the ANC value system.
Lieing is a communist thing. Don’t be surprised!
See the cockroaches scurrying for cover now
Basically Mbalula has just admitted that the ANC derailed the wheels of Justice! The whole ANC should be changered with obstruction of Justice and all those who were involved in the lie must account for this obstruction of Justice.
Maybe instead of praying, the ANC should tell them what Fikile Mbalula told the 2015 Springbok World Cup team: Moer hulle dood ‼️
And so we must believe the $580k couch money is legitimate … another protective lie ?
As if we needed that palooka Mbalula to confirm what the whole nation knew! You don’t even have to be clever or smart to see through the constant lies we’re being fed by the corrupt and inept bunch of oxygen thieves running this country into the ground!!
This government is destroying opportunities for the millions of youngsters in the country and stealing their future.
Oh, I think that if the ANC is successful in bamboozling parliament into believing such nonsence, then none of them are doing their jobs. MP’s get paid a lot of money – more than many business people are making; and the least they can do for that is to investigate such stories, if not as parliament, then as individuals or as political parties. Another indication of how lousy members of parliament are (the opposition this time) was in how easy it was for Arthur Fraser to manipulate parliament to believe all the lies that he told in the charges he laid against the State President; in spite of the true state of affairs even being in the media, ALL the opposition MP’s apart from two very small political parties believed him and were willing to support the corrupt part of the ANC against the Ramaphosa government. It is high time that we the voters make it clear to ALL MP’s, ruling party as well as opposition, that we expect better of them.
Roelf I still feel there must be action that can be taken, it’s criminal what Mbalula admits to have been done, if he had done the same on state capture than just admitting eating hot pepper at the Guptas millions would have been saved before billions left the country and I am not sure we have transactions in the banks, what if the presidential plane was used? How did vat jump from 14% to 15%, the DA is doing a great job they just need to start appreciating themselves, identify and clarify their foreign policy, Johan Steenhuizen went to Ukraine in the middle of the war but he doesn’t seem to be planning to go to Gaza in the middle of something simulating a war with sinister objectives, the DA must align with care givers in black communities long before elections so that what ever they say can be substantiated with actions and relationships, otherwise we are all in serious trouble,Mbalula’s attitude is clearly not foreign the ANC is sure they will rule till Jesus comes, the Eff hasn’t satisfactory explained the VBS issue and the leader’s should have known that if your cousin loans you loot stolen during a heist you are an accomplice, when your relative becomes rich overnight it is in everyone’s interest to ensure no law has been broken
Those of you recommending an IQ test, we have Math Lit nowadays…
YIPPEEE!!! So soon we will also hear the truth about the Phala Phala millions as well and that the versions in the public domain to date are all fabricated lies to protect the president. Hopefully before the 2024 elections, please……
Alex we now know the whole truth, investigations on the culprits accounts show more money was stolen than admitted by the president,the origin of the money and it’s intended purposes will be revealed, we know now those people lie and sleep a peaceful sleep, we just need a bloody good alternative to run this country before we become a completely failed state, we can still salvage whatever remains
Agreed, however our Prosecuting Authority and Judiciary are completely retarded when it comes to politicians and officials of the governing party. As for an alternative to run the country, the hope is not ashamed but the reality check is – with 90%+ of SAPS and 95%+ of SADF members, not to mention the Judiciary and government employees, supporting and loyal to the ANC, we in it for the long haul unfortunately.
Who wrote this “eloquent” release? Impossible to believe it was Mbalula.