VBS Mutual Bank curator Anoosh Rooplal says former president Jacob Zuma will not be able to appeal the summary judgment the High Court in Pietermaritzburg made against him for defaulting on the R6.5 million he owes on his mortgage for non-security upgrades to his Nkandla homestead.
Zuma took out a R7.8 million mortgage in 2016, to repay the state for the non-security related upgrades. But he later defaulted.
Rooplal says Zuma was represented in the court application and his legal team this week consented to the summary judgment.
Rooplal pointed out that Zuma made intermittent payments after the claim was brought in 2019, and that payments were made twice the day before the matter was due in court.
“I suppose in this case like with any other client, you know clients would attempt to make payments but not being able to make the shortfall. And I suppose what exacerbates the matter for a client is that the interest keeps on accruing. So it becomes a situation where the client is really not able to make the payment and you have no option but to pursue the legal course of action,” says Rooplal.
Zuma took out the loan to pay for non-security related upgrades at his Nkandla home following a report by then Public Protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela.
The report revealed that there was gross flouting of the legal, financial and administrative processes. The project started at R27 million and ballooned to R215 million and is still incomplete.
Madonsela said then because the work was done at the president’s house, deviations were assumed to be justified and not to be questioned.
In terms of the loan, Zuma was supposed to pay R69 000 per month over a 240-month period.
At the beginning of last year, Rooplal demanded R250 000 from Zuma which was in arrears.
Rooplal says they have received a signed and stamped copy of the court order and that the next step will be to make a list of Zuma’s attachable and moveable assets. Rooplal says it’s a legal process, with the sheriff of the court being asked to draw up an inventory of assets, and the assets eventually being sold to recover the debt.
“Pensions are protected to a large extent. Then again you know following legal advice, if a person chooses to use the pension to pay off the debt, I guess that is an option for the person to do so.”
VIDEO: Madonsela report on Nkandla upgrades
Meanwhile, political analyst Ralph Mathekga says Zuma’s woes keep piling up.
“The recent judgment against President Jacob Zuma that resulted in his assets being threatened or attached relating to the VBS scandal is just another matter, another pile-up on what he’s already experiencing now. He’s got legal challenges on multiple fronts. Challenges now relating to the parole, and the challenge relating to the corruption case, state capture and so forth.”
The JG Zuma Foundation says Zuma is studying the judgment and is consulting his legal team.
