How about turning Parliament into a historic site?

On 2 January 2022, the fire which razed the parliament building to the ground began.

For three days, it tore through the main Assembly building and the adjacent Old Assembly wing, with its nearly 140 years of history, arts and artefacts.

The blame for this catastrophe has been laid at the feet of one Zandile Mafe, an alleged mastermind who scaled the palisade fencing, made it past the South African Police Service’s Division Protection and Security Services and subsequently allegedly set fire to a part of the building.

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Three police members have been charged with neglecting their duties and have apparently not been suspended for their alleged egregious act, but merely transferred to nearby police stations.

It was also alleged fire protection mechanisms did not kick in as they were supposed to, which led the inferno eventually collapsing the buildings.

In its new year’s message, Parliament noted with “R2 billion towards rebuilding costs, announced by the minister finance during the medium-term budget policy statement, the real work of restoring parliament will begin in the new year”.

Details are to be announced this week. 

However, is now not the time to move Parliament to Pretoria and consign the old site to be a historical site of what was? Much of it can never be recovered. And in truth, the R2 billion cost seems a paltry sum to replace such a magnificent old building.

Given the long-term effects of the history of colonialism in South Africa, maybe it is time to build something modern to better reflect the dreams and aspirations of common South Africans.

We’ve been given the opportunity for a clean, simply because we could do something, does not mean we should – especially in a cash-strapped country such as ours.

While heritage is important, progress and looking to the future is equally so.

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