The Pietermaritzburg High Court in KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday granted an order to force former president Jacob Zuma to pay back money spent on upgrades to his Nkandla residence.
This was according to Louise Brugma, the spokesperson for VBS Mutual Bank curator, Anoosh Rooplal.
News24 reported in 2019 that Zuma had to cough up millions to pay back his VBS bond - or lose his Nkandla property.
Zuma took the loan in September 2016 to pay R7.8 million to the SA Reserve Bank to settle part of the debt emanating from non-security upgrades paid for by the state at his Nkandla homestead.
Court papers filed by Rooplal at the time showed Zuma had defaulted on the multimillion-rand loan extended to him by the bank in 2016.
Rooplal said several attempts to recover the money owed had been unsuccessful.
"Where repeated attempts to secure payments from clients result in no monies being received, we have no choice but to pursue the legal route in order to recover the money owed to the bank," said Rooplal.
Rooplal and VBS had asked the court to grant an order to force Zuma to pay up, or give an order that will allow VBS to execute on the property a section of land owned by the Ingonyama Trust, named Nxamalala Farm, and on which Nkandla is built.
"Our next steps are to understand what movable assets can be attached in order to repay this debt. Since the Nkandla homestead was built on community land, we are unable to attach any immovable property in order to repay this debt," Rooplal said on Tuesday.
To: All Media The Court outcome on the VBS Liquidator v H.E President Zuma, matter is noted.The Foundation and H.E President Zuma will study the judgement and consult the legal team and if necessary will issue a statement.
— JGZuma Foundation (Official) (@JGZ_Foundation) August 30, 2022
The JG Zuma Foundation said the former president would study the court order and consult his legal team.