JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma will pay back some of the public funds used to upgrade his private home, his office said on Wednesday, attempting to end a two-year scandal that has plagued his government.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, the country’s ombudswoman, ruled in 2014 that Zuma and his family had “benefited unduly” from the work on Zuma’s rural residence of Nkandla.

Among the supposed security upgrades were a swimming pool described as a fire-fighting facility, a chicken run, a cattle enclosure, an amphitheatre and a visitors’ centre.

“To achieve an end to the drawn-out dispute... the president proposes that the determination of the amount he is to pay should be independently and impartially determined,” said a presidential statement.

The exact sum will be determined by the treasury and police ministry, it added.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2016