By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson, instructed the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) to provide his office with bi-weekly progress reports and a monthly cost schedule of the National Assembly Building’s reconstruction,
The building was damaged by a fire incident in 2022 and will be replaced with a biophilic structure resembling a protea. Various delays have plagued the building’s reconstruction, which Macpherson aims to accelerate.
The Minister visited the R3-billion project on July 25, commenting that it is heartbreaking to see what has happened to this keystone of South Africa’s democracy.
According to Macpherson, these updates will be shared with the Portfolio Committee on Public Works and Infrastructure to ensure transparency and hold contractors accountable to time-lines and budgets.
As someone who worked in the office for more than ten years, Macpherson says he knows the devastation was partly caused as a result of poor maintenance over many years, “but such a disaster must never take place again”.
The Minister emphasised that increased oversight on the project, including by National Assembly speaker Thoko Didiza would help avoid the abuse of public resources and encourage members of the public to report any suspected corrupt activity to his office.
“We have to work together to rebuild the National Assembly building in such a manner that it is protected from future disasters such as fires and theft, while at the same time making it more accessible to the public to learn about this important institution.
“The reconstruction of the National Assembly needs to honour our past while it looks to the future to stand as a testament to the strength of democracy,” Macpherson states.
The building is scheduled for final handover and completion by April 20, 2026.
Meanwhile Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says South Africa must use its “friendship” with China to get help with rebuilding Parliament.
Malema was speaking at an EFF Birthday celebration rally in Kimberley, Northern Cape.
He predicted the rebuilding of Parliament would take a decade under the current government.
“It took two years to remove rubble, not to build but to remove the rubble. It will take us 10 years to rebuild Parliament if the ANC continues”.
He said the project would be sped up if SA reached out to China.
“If you don’t have the capacity to build parliament quickly, and you have Chinese friends ask them to help.”
Malema said China had proven its expertise when it built “two state-of-the-art hospitals during the Covid-19 pandemic”.
“Why can’t we say to China; ‘Come rebuild this Parliament but you must work with our people to transfer skills to them. So that when you leave our people remain with the capacity to build their own country.”