A home fit for a king

15 November 2011 - 02:07 By Phumla Matjila
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For the Average Jabulani who has just started working it would suffice to replace the chain-link fence around his parents' three- or four-roomed house with a brick wall.

Big windows, a Big-Five solid-wood door, plaster and paint on the outside of the house, and brass house numbers would make the parents proud to have raised such a grateful child.

Those with a good job might add one or two back rooms and a garage (with a sliding door instead of the conventional garage door).

The expectations of parents, relatives and neighbours when a child starts working are informed by the kind of job the child does.

The more modest the job, the more modest the expectations. Sometimes the expectations far exceed the occupation, as is the case with actors, singers, TV presenters, journalists, teachers and nurses . but I digress.

So, a doctor or lawyer is expected to extend the house and add an indoor bathroom and toilet - or even knock down the maspaal house and build a new one. Maybe even move the entire family to a bonded house development in the newer part of the township.

In addition to the "home improvements", the newcomer to the job market must buy monthly groceries for the family until another child takes over, or shares, some of these responsibilities.

That is how it is. These are the unwritten rules to abide by to get "blessings" and to "thank" the people who have been instrumental in our success.

So you can imagine the kinds of expectations the family, distant relatives, neighbours and communities have when your son is the president of the country.

After all, we are talking about the first citizen, the leader of the cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the defence force.

The man who declares war or peace, signs all the acts of parliament and is referred to as "Your Excellency", "Mr President" "The Honourable" must do more than put a "stop nonsense" up at his parents' house. He must improve the whole village, township, town or wherever it is he comes from.

Mobutu Sese Seko left no room for family, close or distant relatives, neighbours or communities to trade gossip about what he did not do for his hometown.

Sese Seko, who was president of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) for 32 years, turned his little, unknown and insignificant village, deep in the dense forest of northern DRC, into a showcase.

He transformed Gbadolite into a first-class city boasting wide boulevards, three palaces, a hydroelectric dam and an airport with a runway that could take an Airbus A340 (though no such plane landed or took off from there during his rule).

Almost overnight, in development terms, Gbadolite was nicknamed the "Versailles of the Jungle".

It had a general hospital, a beautiful chapel, a high school with high-tech science and computer labs, Olympic games facilities and musical instruments of all kinds shapes and sizes.

And with each addition to make Gbadolite modern and magnificent, more jobs were created for the locals.

The palaces needed servants and the hospital workers. The airport was well-staffed, even though it was hardly ever used.

I'm sure the family, neighbours, friends and the communities of this once rural area had only good things to say about Sese Seko.

The residents of Nkandla likewise have good things to say about President Jacob Zuma.

"Our president is making us proud. Look what he has done to Nkandla," the Mail & Guardian newspaper quoted a resident, who was admiring the developments at Zuma's hometown, as saying.

Zuma's Nkandla is undergoing a major facelift, reportedly costing the taxpayer between R69-million and R400-million.

Dwarfing the rondavels and other humble abodes surrounding it, the Zuma "precinct" includes three houses, with three to four bedrooms each, his and hers bathrooms, and walk-in wardrobes, reported the newspaper.

Other facilities include a clinic for the president and his family, a gymnasium, 20 houses for security guards, underground parking, a helicopter pad and a visitors' centre.

The homestead gardens will include ancestral graves.

And these are just some of the structures above the ground. Underground, there is an entire world being created for the first family.

Zuma's new homestead has a series of underground rooms, which the family will be able to access through a 200m-long tunnel.

And to ensure the privacy of the first family, the entire precinct will be cordoned off by a brick wall - with only one entrance.

The lush Nkandla landscape, with its undisturbed forest, home to many indigenous species, is the perfect setting for this luxurious residence.

Almost overnight, in development terms, Zuma has put Nkandla on the map, along with other showcase home towns such Gbadolite, Qunu and Sirte - except the facilities in Nkandla are for the use of the first family only.

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