Nkandla 'makes No 1 vulnerable'

01 July 2015 - 08:51 By SIPHO MASOMBUKA

Security upgrades effected at President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla private residence might have to be re-evaluated asintense media scrutiny had rendered him vulnerable, Police Minister Nathi Nhleko said yesterday. "If you talk to any security person, [and] a nonsecurity person, don't you think the extent to which you [the media] have opened up this matter makes the president vulnerable? ... Now that we have gone this route, there has to be re-evaluation," Nhleko said during a press conference in Pretoria.Nhleko also said he did not understand the logic of building 21 three-bedroomed houses for members of the SA Police Service and of SA National Defence Force in Nkandla at a cost of R135-million.He said the houses were a kilometre outside Zuma's homestead but were included in the total cost of security features when in reality they were not.Nhleko said he could not understand how safety and security personnel located at such a distance could possibly protect the president. He said the number of VIP Protection Unit and SANDF members around Zuma had never reached 20.The personnel were housed in prefabricated units while the 21 houses stood empty. He said he did not know where the figure of between R246-million and R250-million mentioned as the cost of the Nkandla project came from as the Department of Public Works had put it at R217-million...

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