Parliament fire: Rubble yet to be removed as MPs inspect damaged buildings

More than a year later, members of parliament (MPs) got a chance to see the damage to the National Assembly after it was gutted by a fire.

The 2 January 2022 blaze gutted the National Assembly and some parts of the Old Assembly wing leaving MPs without a permanent venue.

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The repair and refurbishment of Parliament is expected to take 24 months, plus an extra six months retention period, and will cost an estimated R2 billion.

The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) was appointed as the project lead to oversee the reconstruction of Parliament in March this year.

Safe access route

The Joint Standing Committee on Financial Management of Parliament on Friday was provided with an update on the restoration of the buildings.

During the meeting, Special Projects Manager Simon Mashigo told the joint committee that while construction work still needs to get underway, the aim was to complete the restoration process by 10 September 2025.

READ MORE: Destroyed Parliament building was not insured

Mashigo, who was appointed to assist Parliament to manage the reconstruction programme, said the project would take place in stages.

“Concept and viability is the most critical stage that we need to spend the most of our time on. So 25% of our time in terms of planning has to go to concept and viability because that’s where we are going to be making major decisions as whether we demolish a certain section, conduct engineering analysis of that decision and also social and economic aspects,” he said.

No-go areas

He explained that an access route had been identified and it was determined that most of the National Assembly was completely inaccessible due to health and safety risks.

Parts of the building have been categorised into the following areas:

• Green and yellow areas can be navigated, but with caution.
• Orange areas are the fire damaged sections where some structures may collapse. No person may walk through this section without guidance of an engineer.
• Red areas are the no-go zones which have been terribly affected. These red zones have rubble and structures that may fall and create secondary damages.

“Even an engineer or people that are going to remove the rubble cannot go into the red zones because you need to have special scaffolding to prop all these buildings. If you remove anything, even if it’s just a minor piece of metal, it may be connected to a structure and as you pull it a wall or ceiling can collapse,” Mashigo said.

RELATED: MPs told about security upgrade failures leading up to Parliament fire

Mashigo highlighted that some of the orange areas are infested with mold.

“If the mold comes in contact with the skin it affects you, or if the spores find a way into your lungs it’s going to become a problem. But bigger than that there’s also bacterial growth in these areas because they are devoid of oxygen.”

He said some of Parliament’s assets, including books, had been damaged by the fire and water.

“In the National Assembly, there were 2 800 assets in the asset register, so the auditor-general may say they need to see those assets and the value reported in the annual financial statements. That’s why we had to go through this process of verification which followed key access routes,” Mashigo continued.

Watch the meeting below:

Rubble removal, building offices

Regarding rubble removal, Mashigo said contractors have to be appointed before work starts on 9 June and be completed in July.

“As you saw the status of those buildings, rubble removal will not be just to remove loose items on the floor, it will also be to remove items that are hanging or still mounted to the ceilings, so that once they are removed a fair conditional assessment of the structures can be made. That process will conclude on the 31 July.”

He also indicated that the columns of the Old Assembly were still intact and repairs will start on 20 June.

“In terms of the temporary roof of the Old Assembly, that’s going to start [on the same day].”

Mashigo said the construction of at least 155 offices on 90 Plein street in Cape Town for MPs will commence on 18 June.

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Secretary to National Council of Provinces (NCOP), Modibedi Phindela, also told the committee that the Old Assembly cannot be used to hold meetings.

“I think it’s important to emphasise that the Old Assembly chamber may look not to have been affected by the fire, but the condition is such that it is not habitable. There’s water damage in the Assembly. The Old Assembly chamber will not be a venue that can be used currently for the purpose of anything, whether it be a committee meeting or mini-plenary or a sitting of the National Assembly,” Phindela said.

“We went through the planning process and prepared designs. We [advertised] the tender and today the DBSA is going to award the contract to the most responsive bidder.”

Following the briefing, MPs later visited the damaged site for oversight and inspection.

Watch: MPs see the damage at Parliament

The corridors around the National Assembly chamber. LD pic.twitter.com/fUe3ZG53pY

— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) May 12, 2023

Costs

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana last October allocated R2 billion to rebuild Parliament.

The national legislature will also get an additional R100 million per year to address its baseline budget and a further allocation of R118 million for unforeseen and unavoidable expenditures as a result of the impact of both the fire and Covid-19 on Parliament’s operations.

“Part of R118 million will be used to secure space for honourable members,” National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said on Friday.

“Having office space means that there would be IT systems because remember most of the members lost their gadgets and there’s no insurance for Parliament so unfortunately people have not been refunded. So there’s a whole lot of work that need to be done in those offices.”

Mapisa-Nqakula, meanwhile, told the committee that Parliament’s internal investigation into the fire, especially related to security measures, was still ongoing.

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