Nkandla: expectations v reality

JAcoB Zuma’s ascendency to the pinnacle of the country’s politics, in 2007 when he ousted then president Thabo Mbeki in Polokwane, first brought public attention to Nkandla, his impoverished hometown in northern KwaZulu-Natal.

At some point, media teams trekked in and out of the area to speak to locals about one of their own becoming the most powerful man in the country and probably on the African continent. It fostered hope that finally the place would developed.

Previously, Nkandla had no clean water, no electricity and the roads were so poor that the drive to the nearest