First off, even if FNB had given Zuma a bond for his compound, and he’d defaulted on payment, they’d have had no claim because Zuma doesn’t actually own the land – so we’re quite sure they would’ve known that.

As has already been established, the compound is owned by the Ingonyama Trust – the body that administers Zulu tribal land – and Zuma merely leases it, and does not hold the title deed.

So here is where it starts to get interesting: a high court ruling by Judge Hillary Squires in May 2005 revolving around Schabir Shaik’s corrupt payments to Zuma, which has never been overturned, doesn’t actually speak about FNB, but the indictment it’s based on does. The National Prosecuting Authority bantered around this kind of thing in that indictment: “bank loan obtained from First National Bank”, “a home loan bond” and “the FNB bond”.

Says a passage in the ruling:

… [I]t is common cause, or amply proved, that it was [Vivian] Reddy who eventually arranged for the payment of the bulk of the cost of Zuma’s Nkandla home for it was Reddy who arranged the bond … by the time Reddy applied for the bond on Zuma’s behalf … The first application for the Zuma bond was for R650 000 …

Jan Kleynhans, chief executive of FNB Home Loans, answered some of the Mail and Guardian’s questions:

FNB does not grant home loans to individual applicants for housing developments that are carried out on tribal land, as the properties are not held under separate title. FNB cannot register a bond over the individual homes. Legally, people who currently live on land owned by a tribal authority have no claim to ownership of the land.

Maybe JZ just doesn’t understand what the word bond means though, and maybe he has just mistaken it for a personal loan or something because just because FNB can’t give him a bond for the compound, they may have been able to give him a personal loan, or something similar. They’re not saying though, because of client confidentiality, and neither is JZ’s lawmaker – Mac Maharaj – who enjoyed tenure as a FirstRand director – FNB’s holding company – during “the granting” of “the bond”.

Continued Kleynhans:

 In principle, the bank grants several types of loans to customers, such as personal loans, rights of cession and traditional mortgage loans. Only on reasonable grounds does the bank grant such loans which are not traditionally bonded [mortgage loans] and where there is an adequate form of security on the loan. These loans are reviewed on a case-by-case basis and granted based on low risk and minimal exposure to the bank.

[Source: M&G]