Five categories of wrongdoing drove Makhanya's R147.3-million Nkandla liability

The Nkandla homestead security upgrade was authorised in August 2009 at R27.9-million — a figure that had already exploded to R161-million within five months of Makhanya's appointment, and settled at R216-million by project close. But the Special Tribunal's judgment reveals that the money trail is as troubling as the scale: R60.2-million in payments to contractors could not be verified to specific completed work, while R68.5-million was spent on structures the security authorities never asked for. Therefore, though the judge acknowledged that Makhanya "clearly did not act alone", he alone has been ordered to repay R147.3-million — because his role as architect and principal agent made him personally responsible for every rand he certified.