Prove it, Zuma says to Thuli

President Jacob Zuma has challenged Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to specify how he "unduly benefited" from the R246-million "security upgrading" of his private Nkandla homestead.

Speaking to thousands of ANC supporters at an election rally in Langeloop, Mpumalanga, yesterday, Zuma said: "Where there were allegations around Nkandla, the government took steps to investigate ... we didn't waste time.

"The [interministerial report] came out and it never said the president misused [taxpayers'] money. It said that there seemed to have been an inflation of prices.

"The government then asked the Special Investigating Unit to probe ... Others complained to the public protector and she also investigated and she didn't say that the president misused taxpayers' money.

"She was speaking in English ... she said there was 'undue benefit' ... I'm still looking for it today because the government's [interministerial report] did say what happened."

In her report, Madonsela found that Zuma and his family had "unduly benefited" from the "security upgrades" and that he should repay some of the money spent on them. The amount would run into millions of rands.

An earlier report by the government's interministerial team absolved Zuma of any wrongdoing. Instead, it called for an investigation into the roles of former public works minister Geoff Doidge and his then deputy, Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu.

Zuma spent a few minutes talking about Nkandla - gesticulating and speaking in a squeaky voice to mock leaders of opposition parties, much to the crowd's delight.

"All they talk about is Nkandla! Nkandla! They don't talk about policy.

"They didn't wait for [Madonsela] to complete her report ... they are busy day and night talking about Nkandla.

"It's election time now. We want to hear what they are saying about their policies.

"You'd swear that Nkandla will win them the elections. They have nothing else to offer.

"They can't even wait for legal processes. They can't debate. The building of Zuma's house helped them and gave them something to talk about. We are taking this election in the meantime. We are not waiting for anyone," said Zuma, speaking in Zulu.

The president now seems more comfortable with talking about Nkandla after initially avoiding the topic in the early days of his election campaign.

A recent Sunday Times survey showed that Nkandla was not much of an issue for ANC voters and would not significantly dent the party's prospects in the election.

Zuma told the Langeloop crowd that he wanted the ANC to win by a "landslide" - hinting that he wanted a two-thirds majority in parliament that would allow the ANC to change the constitution.

"This time we want the biggest majority ever because we want to use the power of democracy to take South Africa forward and remove all the obstacles that are standing in the way.

"This is our constitution and we will defend it until the end.

"We have 20 years of experience in government. We have the necessary experience to know what are the obstacles, what needs to be removed and what needs to fixed," Zuma said.