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had partnered with the Department of Rural Development to create the planned 200-hectare town, to be built around existing government buildings and schools.

      A Rural Development official who worked with Mzobe this week said: “He shows up with his flashy dress style and crocodile shoes and tells us what to do in meetings. It is a very unhealthy situation. “He is only a civilian, but the kind of influence he exercises in the department is staggering. He simply picks up a phone and phones a minister. It has happened before my own eyes: the minister of agriculture, land, economic development, he has a direct line to them.”

      Several sources in the Rural Development and Land Reform Department confirmed that Mzobe was now regularly attending critical rural development meetings.

      But Mzobe hit back, saying his organisation was simply a non-profit entity trying to uplift the lives of people living in rural areas. He admitted to attending government meetings regularly, but denied it was for sinister reasons.

      He said: “It is not Masibambisane who convene these meetings. As stakeholders in rural development we have to be at these meetings. We want to make rural development happen in the areas where we are active and as a stakeholder we have to be at these meetings.”

      Mzobe added: “We have seen lots of other initiatives in the area. What we want is to take all of these, including existing plans for shopping malls and other facilities, and package them together within the overall Umlalazi-Nkandla Smart Growth Centre.”

      Mzobe confirmed that an initial feasibility study, master plan and environmental impact assessment (EIA) had been conducted at rural development’s expense. Rural Development spokesperson Mtobeli Mxotwa said his department was the “coordinator and facilitator’’ of the project, one of three such “smart villages’’ being built acrossthe country.

      According to the EIA, the project would cost about R1 billion to complete, creating some 500 jobs and generating R10 million in wages in the development phase.

      Project manager Craig Perritt of Aurecon, the consultants used by the Department Rural Development for the project, refused to comment. He said the department had insisted on a confidentiality clause in his contract.

      After City Press reported on this project, DA Parliamentary Leader, Lindiwe Mazibuko wrote the following:

      Over the last week the media have catalogued plans to construct a new, “smart growth” town close to the president’s Nkandla residence. The location of this project is neither coincidental nor altruistic in nature.

      The president is simply prioritising his own community of Nkandla over other equally impoverished communities in KwaZulu-Natal.

      Even if it were true that this ­initiative was conceptualised before his presidency began, the president should have shown appropriate judgement to avoid a conflict of interests.

      But, of course, Zuma’s fingerprints are all over this project. He is the chairperson of the Masibambisane Rural Initiative, hardly a passive observer with a passing interest.

      The R2billion that has been earmarked for this vanity project could be much better spent on equitably developing projects for many more people in KwaZulu-Natal. Despite claims that this misnamed “smart growth centre” is a public-private partnership, the taxpayer will be expected to foot half of the R1 billion price tag.

      This project is neither “smart”, nor likely to lead to any “growth”. From a public policy perspective, we know that success in artificially creating new towns has been patchy across the world.

      Yet there is a far more important point in the debate on Nkandla. In a poorly governed province which struggles to provide basic services like water and sanitation for many rural communities, this project is a monumental folly.

      If there is any money to spare in the country’s emptying coffers, it should be spread equitably across many communities. Obviously, the DA is not suggesting that every community and project should receive an identical share. We simply ask for fairness through equality of opportunity for all.

      This project also speaks of a failure of leadership on a wider front. The most important constitutional obligation of the state is to protect its citizens, especially the vulnerable. This week, we were reminded that the women of South Africa face daily threats to their very lives. Our communities are blighted by gratuitous violence against women and children.

      Not far from Nkandla, we heard recently how grandmothers in KwaZakhele have had to take to the streets to protect their community and to tackle criminality. Many news reports have shown that the young people and men of KwaZakhele failed to protect the women of this community.

      While this is true, the most proximate failure is of the state to protect its citizens. Yet we hear extra policing has been extended to the president’s own community of Nkandla, and his homestead. While Nkandla is locked down like the Pentagon, danger lurks outside the walls of the president’s impenetrable castle.

      This president, who lives in a bunker of the mind, is now building one in reality.

      The funding of the controversial Initiative also proved to be a murky area, just like the president’s homestead.

      The department of agriculture initially vehemently denied spending money on the project. “We have not spent any money on Masibambisane,” said Palesa Mokomele, spokesperson for Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson, after reports that R800 million had been moved from the department to the project.

      Mzobe also denied receiving money from the Department of Agriculture. “If we had that kind of money we would not be using our own money to pay the Masibambisane volunteer workers.”

      Mzobe reportedly travelled first class and stayed in five star hotels, including The Michelangelo in Sandton, when attending rural development meetings. He was adamant that he picked up the bills himself. “If I go around in rural areas, I use my own car, I pay for petrol and I pay for tollgates. And if I go to Gauteng, I pay for my own ticket (and) pay for my own accommodation,” he said. Mzobe said he got a good discount at the Michelangelo because he stayed there regularly for three years. “The government is not paying a cent and Masibambisane is not paying either. I use my own credit card with money from my business,” he said.

      But agriculture official Steve Galane admitted: “The department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries had made a pledge of R10 million towards the cattle, goat and irrigation cooperatives of the (Masibambisane) project.” Agriculture spokesperson Selby Bokaba then said that the department had contributed seeds (maize and beans) and fertiliser worth R3 million to Masibambisane.

      In October 2012, the agriculture department’s annual report directly contradicted repeated denials from both the department and Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson. The department was grilled in Parliament, but the department’s director-general condoned the irregular payment, and no further action was taken.

      Joemat-Pettersson then embraced the concept and Masibambisane became the flavour of the year in the department. Mzobe became a frequent visitor to the agriculture department, often engaging with the minister, officials said.

      However, according to departmental sources, private donors got edgy when Masibambisane’s figures didn’t make sense.

      By the end of 2012, Deebo Mzobe was being accused by officials in the rural development department of being too big for his crocodile-skin boots. Officials who City Press interviewed were worried about how strong a force Mzobe had become in the department.

      They said Mzobe had organised several meetings with ministers at Joburg’s OR Tambo International Airport and that most of the calls and meetings concerned development in Nkandla.

      But Mzobe downplayed his influence with the ministers. “The influence with ministers is simply not true. I speak to ministers like I would speak to you, to promote Masibambisane,” he said.

      He admitted to having a close relationship with Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson. “Normally we spoke with her quite often, more than with other ministers, but we discussed nothing serious,” he said. He also admitted that

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