Curators could attach Nkandla

The curators of liquidated VBS Mutual Bank have set their sights on former president Jacob Zuma’s homestead, according to court papers.

The papers filed at the high court in Pietermaritzburg said Zuma had to pay back R7.3m on his bond or the liquidators would attach his property.

VBS granted a loan to Zuma in 2016 after he was ordered to pay back some of the money spent on upgrades to his Nkandla homestead.

Zuma fell behind on the repayments for the first time in August 2018, when he was in arrears of R109,568, and was sent a letter of demand.

“Subsequent to the delivery of the demand letter, the first defendant [Zuma] effected sporadic repayments, all of which were less than the agreed monthly instalments.”

The court papers then detailed attempts between May 6 and June 18 2019 to make additional payments.

However, “the first defendant has failed to effect payment of the full arrears”.

The court papers, filed by VBS Mutual Bank’s liquidator, Anoosh Rooplal, show Zuma has until September 14 to file a notice to state whether or not he will defend the summons.

Should he defend it, he would have 20 days after that to file responding papers.

According to the court papers, as at August 31, Zuma was R558,691 in arrears on his VBS loan, and owed a total of R7,345,849.

Zuma’s spokesperson, Vukile Mathabela, said he had made contact with the former president’s legal team over the court papers.

“I’ve called the attorneys and I’m waiting for them to come back to me,” Mathabela said.