President Jacob Zuma has clearly changed tack in a bid to put to rest the controversy over the R246-million of taxpayers' money spent on his private homestead in Nkandla. After giving parliament's multi-party ad hoc committee unprecedented access to his homestead as part of its investigation into how the money was spent, The Presidency yesterday granted similar access to a group of journalists.That the true cost of the "security upgrading" of the sprawling estate, and adjacent police and army housing, could not amount to R246-million was clear to all. The visitors' centre is in a shocking state with the paving falling apart and sophisticated security systems left uninstalled and lying on the floor.The so-called amphitheatre is really a soil-retention wall designed to be easy on the eye.As for the swimming pool, the point is not whether it can be used as a source of water by firefighters. The point is that it is essentially for the benefit of the president and his family and the taxpayer has no business footing the bill.The president and his supporters have been using these inspections to substantiate their argument that the high costs of the project were largely due to inflated prices, which they blame on collusion between Public Works officials and contractors.There was clearly corruption involved.But how is it possible that all this collusion and corruption could have happened without Zuma, the owner of the property, not asking questions?The visit to Nkandla shows that Public Protector Thuli Madonsela was right in accusing Public Works and other arms of government of failing to ensure that taxpayers' money is properly spent and, as head of the government, Zuma is directly responsible for the departments' failures.If Zuma wants to put an end to the scandal, he should stop trying to win public sympathy by claiming that he is the main victim and pay up. Those officials and contractors who exploited the Zuma government's very weak control systems to line their pockets should also face the full might of the law...