President Jacob Zuma built his house in Nkandla with his own money, SA Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande said on Saturday.

"Zuma built his own house, he did not use taxpayers' money to build his house," Nzimande told the National Union of Minewokers' national shop stewards council in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg.

"He never asked for those extra upgrades."

Nzimande said the homes of all previous South African presidents had also been upgraded.

Last month, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found that Zuma and his family had improperly benefited from R246 million security upgrades to his Nkandla homestead. This included a swimming pool, a cattle kraal and an amphitheatre.

Nzimande described Madonsela's report as "white people's lies".

"Papers are the lies of a white man. We are not told the truth about Nkandla. It is being used as a political tool," he said.

Nzimande said his ministerial home in Cape Town was upgraded without his knowledge or permission.

"They changed the pavement because it did not match the colour of the house's wall and they put in a guard house larger than an RDP house," he said.

All ministers' homes were upgraded and cost R100 million, he said.

Nzimande said he was tired of white people's lies.