president jacob zuma urged to pay back $500,000 to S.A treasury

South Africa's treasury has recommended that President Jacob Zuma should pay back more than $500,000 of public funds spent upgrading his private residence with facilities including a chicken coop and a swimming pool.

The treasury said in a statement on Monday that Zuma, that head of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party, should pay back $509,000 rand for the unnecessary renovations.

In March, the country's highest court found that the president had violated the constitution by defying an order to repay some of the money used in the $23m non-security upgrades for his home in Nkandla, in the rural eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal..