Political parties have expressed dissatisfaction at Parliament’s time frame to restore Parliament to its former glory.
The replacement of offices burnt in the Parliament fire are top priority on the refurbishment agenda to bring back the national key point to its original state.
DA chief whip Siviwe Gwarube expressed dissatisfaction at this announcement, and said the 24-month turnaround plan was not to be celebrated.
“The DA has noted the announcement made by the secretary to Parliament, Xolile George, that Parliament has finally decided to begin the rebuilding process. While this was dubbed as a milestone, it is hardly something we can applaud when the fire took place over a year ago,” she said.
“To announce that the rubble will now be cleared and rebuilding will start is an expected move, considering that the R2 billion for this project was allocated by the Treasury last year already. Parliament has moved at a sluggish pace.”
Gwarube said that the rapid media briefing on steps to be taken to restore Parliament is due to the DA’s letter of demand made a few weeks ago for the speedy rebuilding of Parliament.
“We will still be expecting the institution to respond to the DA’s legal challenge on what the plans are for finding suitable alternative venues for Parliament to fully resume its functions. This is not a ‘nice to have’. It’s a constitutional obligation that we take seriously,” she said.
The DA said it will proceed with its legal case against Parliament to find suitable alternative venues for the institution to do its work. Parliament was expected to respond to the DA’s letter this week.
The Freedom Front Plus chief whip Wouter Wessels said that neither the Cape Town City Hall nor the Good Hope Chamber is suitable for sittings of the National Assembly, and other plans need to be made for a more suitable environment for a plenary set-up for 400 members.
“The business of Parliament is of utmost importance. The repair of the chamber should thus be fast-tracked and in the meanwhile, a suitable arrangement should be in place to allow Parliament to fulfil its oversight and legislative functions,” he said.
George said they planned to have 125 offices restored by the end of April. He said engineers would begin working on removing rubble this week. Parliament confirmed that they have spent roughly R15 million since its move to Cape Town City Hall, and a large bulk of the expenditure was spent on off-site infrastructure for the media.
The City of Cape Town said the recent payment made from Parliament for the city hall was made available at council-approved tariff rates, for a period of five days, which included Sona and the Budget Speech, amounting to just over R130 000.
“The City is also supporting with services such as traffic management and waste removal, which are provided annually as a routine, including when the event took place at the National Assembly,” the City of Cape Town said.
The alleged Parliament arsonist, Zandile Mafe, made a brief appearance at Cape Town High Court yesterday.
A report from the Department of Health was expected for the referral of Mafe to a medical facility, but the State claimed it arrived late on Thursday evening.
The state said it wanted to raise issues with the report but the presiding officer over the court matter was not present, and the substitute judge referred the matter back to the presiding officer. Mafe’s lawyers and the State agreed for the matter to be heard on March 17.