“When people see my house on the TV, they must be thinking that government has built this for me. No. A large part of that... has been done by the family.

How then this was done, I would not want to judge,” Zuma told the Black Business Council last week.

This raises several possibilities. Perhaps Zuma was light- heartedly alluding to his role as father of the nation, in which case taxpayers are indeed footing the bill.

If he meant actual members of his large family, where would they get the money from? If they are paying, which we doubt, it could only be from the enormous wealth so many of them have acquired since he became ANC president in December 2007.

Directorships, contracts and all manner of business deals have magically flowed the way of the Zuma clan.

Khulubuse Zuma, the grossly obese nephew who failed to pay Aurora miners, is but the most obvious example.

The truth about the Nkandla upgrade is that it was started as a vanity project for Jacob Zuma when he was closer to so-called financial adviser Schabir Shaik, who has since been convicted of fraud.

In return for protection from arms deal investigators, a French company was persuaded to fund upgrades. When that source dried up, several others were tapped by Shaik and Zuma, and the project grew in scope.

It is disgraceful that Zuma admits not knowing the costs involved. Why should he care? He knows that acolytes will ensure the Zuma family complex is paid for, immorally and arguably illegally.