Former President Jacob Zuma has filed a notice of intent to fight a summons filed by VBS Mutual Bank for him to pay back R7.3m he owes for his Nkandla home, or risk losing the property, Business Day reported on Friday. 

In an exclusive, News24 previously reported that according to court papers filed by the bank’s liquidator, Anoosh Rooplal, Zuma had defaulted on the multimillion-rand loan he obtained in 2016. 

The former president secured the bond from VBS to pay R7.8m to the South African Reserve Bank in September 2016. He fell behind on the repayments for the first time in August 2018, when he was in arrears of R109 568. 

Now the bank’s liquidator is asking the courts to grant an order forcing Zuma to either pay or risk losing the property.

Business Day and eNCA also reported that Zuma has missed the deadline to file his plea to stop the bank from attaching the property.

Upgrades at the Nkandla homestead included a swimming pool, cattle kraal and amphitheatre, costing South African taxpayers R250m.

In a report released in March 2014, former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found that Zuma unduly benefited from the upgrades, which were supposed to be for security. The report found that the upgrades were not related to security.

She recommended that the former president pay back a portion of the money used for the renovations to the homestead.

(Compiled by Sesona Ngqakamba)