ANC outrage over Zuma's Nkandla U-turn

President Jacob Zuma has angered senior figures in the ANC after ignoring advice from its national executive committee to take the public protector's Nkandla report on judicial review.

This week it emerged for the first time that a defiant Zuma also ignored advice from party structures and senior leaders as early as two years ago to pay back a portion of the(image) R246-million spent on his Nkandla home.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe yesterday revealed that the NEC had in 2014 – just before the general elections – advised Zuma to take public protector Thuli Madonsela's "Secure in Comfort" report to court for review.

But Zuma instead assigned Police Minister Nathi Nhleko to compile his now discredited report that concluded that the president was not liable for any money spent at his private home.

"It was the NEC that made that decision [to take Madonsela's report for review]," Mantashe told the Sunday Times. Party spokesman Zizi Kodwa said the NEC had also advised that the interministerial task team report on Nkandla be taken on review.

"[Madonsela and the interministerial task team] made reports which were almost the same in content but with different determinations. We made the decision as the ANC to take both reports on review. That advice wasn't followed," said Kodwa.

Asked why Zuma had ignored his party's advice, Kodwa said: "I really can't answer that."

Presidency spokesman Bongani Majola declined to comment on the issue and referred the Sunday Times back to Kodwa.

The Sunday Times understands that in 2014, just after Madonsela released her report, Zuma was advised by his legal team not to take the report for judicial review because a court finding affirming the findings would be disastrous for him.

A well-placed source said the advice was that such a finding would be grounds for impeachment.

But impeachment is the course opposition parties now plan to follow after the concession that Zuma made this week during argument in the Constitutional Court.

Zuma's lawyers conceded that the public protector's findings against him in the Nkandla matter were binding and that Nhleko's conflicting report was "meaningless".

An ANC MP said it would be difficult to defend Zuma should the opposition push for his impeachment. "What are we dealing with here? A president who doesn't apply his mind," the MP said.

"He might see this as a victory today, but there are far-reaching consequences.

"I don't know how the Speaker will avoid setting up an inquiry into the fitness of the president to hold office."