The South African President, Jacob Zuma will have to pay back $500,000 (7.8 million) in public funds after the South African court ruled that Zuma should pay to the government for upgrades made to his private home.
An anti-corruption body, the public protector, ruled in 2014 that Mr Zuma had “unduly benefited” from the non-security renovations to his rural home in Nkandla in South Africa’s Kwa Zulu-Natal province.
In March, the Constitutional Court then ruled that he had violated the constitution when he failed to repay some of the money.It gave the treasury two months to come up with a figure for Mr Zuma to repay.
The treasury says it hired two independent quantity surveyors to conduct separate investigations to come up with the figure.
The main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), one of the parties which brought the case, welcomed the treasury’s report but said it had hoped the figure would be higher.
“This sends out a clear message to those involved in corruption, especially those in the ANC, that you will be held accountable for your actions, even if you are the president,” the AFP news agency quotes DA spokesman Mabine Seabe as saying.
The Nkandla scandal has been a hotly debated subject in parliament for almost three years and has damaged the president’s reputation, she says.
In April, President Zuma apologized for the controversy and said he would abide by the Constitutional Court’s ruling.
The upgrades included an amphitheater, pool, chicken run and cattle enclosure. Mr Zuma must now repay the money – about 3% of the total spent – within 45 days.