Nkandla pic ban miffs media - and others

For more:

• Eyewitness News: Twitter storm over Nkandla picture 'ban'... So the ministers have now decided that the media cannot publish images of Nkandla.
  

  An evocative picture of Nkandla... Not.

  Strangely, they do not appear to have been so energised over pictures being published of Parliament, for example - a national key point.

  Isn't it strange how at first there was just one Nkandla, then two (Zuma's private Nkandla and the government's official Nkandla) but now we seem to be talking about just one again. So the picture ban applies to both, right?

  Isn't it strange that the costs of the future upkeep of Nkandla have not been revealed/discussed - so will they also be "top secret" and the media will not be privy to how our tax monies are being spent? As taxpayers, we should all hope that that will not be the case. After all, it is our taxes that are paying for all this - and we have a right to know where and how they are being spent.

  In any event, revealing that a security fence cost RXX million, or salary costs for security staff are RYY million/year reveals nothing that prejudices security.

  

  An aerial view of the main house... Not.

  Isn't it strange that the ministers have not apparently heard of Google Earth, which if it does not already, it certainly in time will allow anyone to check out the PP (presidential pad) in all its thatched glory.

  Isn't it strange that you can take a virtual tour of the home of perhaps the most closely guarded national leader in the world - the US president. Wait! You can even take a virtual tour of Number 10 - the UK prime minister's official residence as well. But back in sunny South Africa, there's lots of shade over Nkandla. Almost a blackout of Eskom... sorry... epic proportions.

• Financial Times: South Africa orders media ban over pictures of Zuma's house... The ban - using an apartheid-era law, by the way - has even made the news overseas. As the writer says in this Financial Times article "The contrast between President Jacob Zuma's sprawling private Nkandla residence and the homes of most South Africans offers a stark reminder of the yawning gap between the haves and have-nots in one of the world's most unequal societies."

  Also see: Sanef says 'No!' to Nkandla pic ban.

  It all looks like it is shaping up to be a battle of epic proportions between the media (probably other than, naturally, the usual suspects that will toe the official line) and a government intent on ensuring the people of South Africa do not know how their tax monies have been spent.