Even if he had been asked to pay only R1000 back to the taxpayer, the message is loud and clear - the abuse of political power in this country will not go unchallenged. President Jacob Zuma has been dragged, screaming and kicking, to pay back the public money used for the upgrading of his private home, except that related to security. It is important to emphasise the importance of the decision that led to Zuma being forced to pay back the money.He tried every trick in the book, abused the system and dragged our ANC-dominated parliament into endorsing his deceit that he did not unduly benefit from the "security upgrade" of his homestead in Nkandla. Now that he has paid, we hope that his political party will accept that, all along, the head of state abused his powers.Although yesterday might be viewed as marking the end of the Nkandla chapter, Zuma will always be remembered as the president who tried but failed to swindle his people out of their hard-earned money.There will be those who will argue that, now that Zuma has paid back the money, we should stop talking about, or even referring to, Nkandla. He has paid and we should just let go, they will say.But they will be failing to understand that the decision of the Constitutional Court to uphold the powers of the public protector in her ruling against Zuma was the most significant aspect of the Nkandla saga.Today we can state as fact that South Africa's head of state was forced to pay back the money he took from the public purse.This is the first - and we hope the last - time that this nation will be subjected to court cases and commissions just to force a president to do the right thing.The R7.8-million is now back in the Treasury but South Africa should remain vigilant.There are still many people who believe that they can loot the state at will and get away with it. They should learn from Zuma's sorry example...