Charred beams and scattered tiles still protrude from the gutted roof of South Africa’s Parliament House in Cape Town, two years after a devastating fire. These scars, partly hidden behind the monumental red and white facade, symbolize for many the country’s woes at the dawn of an election year.
Reconstruction has been slow and the Assembly’s 400 MPs have been forced to move to a smaller hall in Cape Town, which can only accommodate 170.
An investigation into the arson, committed by a man declared unfit to stand trial, found numerous security lapses, including that guards were asleep at their posts.
The fire and its aftermath highlight a “failed state” that cannot maintain basic services, ignores safety standards and where planning is “in tatters”, political scientist Sandile Swana told AFP. “All this creates an atmosphere of precariousness and general insecurity.”
Reconstruction will begin in January over a period of two years, according to “announced deadlines”, according to Parliament Speaker Moloto Mothapo.
It took two years to obtain funding and permits, remove rubble and items to make safe and prepare the site, he added.
– Calcined suctions –
The year 2024 marks three decades since the advent of post-apartheid democracy, the date of the start of construction is full of symbolism. Mothapo assures that the renovation will lead to a “restored and improved” Parliament.
“The institution is not just bricks and mortar. It carries the hopes, aspirations and future” of South Africans.
But the accumulated delays arouse anger.
“We all agree that this process has been very long and frustrating,” Siviwe Gwarube, parliamentary leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), told a parliamentary committee this year.
It took more than 48 hours to put out the fire that broke out on January 2, 2022. The fire, which caused no casualties, caused $120 million in damage. It also destroyed a room that has been the scene of historic moments, such as President Frederik de Klerk’s announcement of Nelson Mandela’s release after 27 years in prison in 1990.
According to Moloto Mothapo, the renovated building will feature “additional elements of modernity” and house a larger chamber capable of hosting a joint sitting of both houses of Parliament.
MPs who do not fall within the 170 seats allocated must currently participate in debates remotely, online.
This undermines transparency, said Brett Herron of the small opposition GOOD party. “Parliament doesn’t work as it should,” he said. “It is not reasonable to expect South Africans to accept this agreement for at least another two years.”
According to Dianne Kohler Barnard (DA), the reduction in staff has taken away “this dynamism, this feeling of agitation and action to get things done.”
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF, radical left), the second largest opposition party, had suggested moving parliament to Pretoria, where the government sits, before backing down.
– “Negligence and incompetence” –
MPs still wonder how Zandile Christmas Mafe, 50, was able to enter Parliament that fateful night. A court has since ruled that she cannot stand trial due to her schizophrenia.
Court hearings and a parliamentary report revealed a number of failings in the building’s safety and maintenance.
Shocking CCTV footage showed Mafe wandering the grounds of Parliament House for more than 24 hours undetected, before dousing cardboard boxes and newspapers with petrol.
The officers assigned to monitor the surveillance cameras were asleep. The fire extinguishing system did not detect the flames and the automatic fire extinguishers did not work.
The DA described these failures as the “quintessential” African National Congress (ANC) government, characterized, according to the opposition party, “by negligence and incompetence”.
In power since 1994, the ANC could, according to polls, win less than 50% of the vote next year, due to growing discontent over corruption, mismanagement and endemic unemployment.
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2023-12-31 04:43:14
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