Has Zuma's upgrade benefited Nkandla community? I think not: iLIVE

I have been wondering about this for a long time. For two years, back when Jacob Zuma was deputy president, I worked on-and-off in Nkandla, training teachers for an NGO.

The road from Melmoth to Nkandla was the worst I have ever encountered – more like a spider’s web of tarmac between potholes than a solid surface.

SAPPI trucks, laden with timber, ploughed through it on a daily basis, and I damaged two cars – one a rental, and the other, one that belonged to my company, on this road.

I see that the new road links Nkandla with Kranskop, probably the President’s preferred route.

I would be very interested to know whether the appalling Melmoth-Nkandla road has been upgraded.

I would also like to know what has been done for the poverty-stricken community of Nkandla, itself.

When I worked there, I twice saw the line of pensioner waiting at the Post Office for their money, while the moneylenders waited outside to take it away from them.

As far as I remember, there was only one, run-down general store.

Has JZ’s wife supplanted this with her tuckshop?  From what I could gather, the Catholic mission was the sole support of these hapless people.

This affair has made me physically ill, because there appears to be no sense of shame, or fear of retribution.

There should have been no need for a report by the public protector.

Had everything been open and above board, Zuma and the security cluster should simply have presented all the figures to Parliament for scrutiny and then publication in the media.

Open and transparent – I don’t think so.

Never mind the fact that taxpayers from all over the country have paid for this road and poor Gautengers are now have to fork out for etolls to pay back a loan to a foreign company.