Parliament fire: Alternative venues could cost as much as R100k per meeting

Parliament is still looking for alternative venues to accommodate MPs following the 2 January fire that razed the National Assembly, but the options all appear to be quite pricey.

ANC chief chip Pemmy Majodina provided feedback on the proposed venues to the National Assembly Programming Committee on Thursday morning, after the Chief Whips’ Forum met to discuss the preliminary report the day before.

Majodina said the chief whips agreed to consider different venues including the Cape Town City Hall, the Cape Town International Convention Centre, the Dome, as well as community halls and the three parliamentary villages where MPs live.

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At the moment, the Good Hope Centre will be used for National Assembly plenaries, but it doesn’t have enough space to accommodate all 400 MPs.

The ANC chief whip also indicated that the forum discussed the full cost assessment of the damage to Parliament as well as its relocation in the long term.

A detailed report on the matter is expected to be discussed on 23 March.

Special Appropriations Bill

During last Friday’s Programming Committee meeting, National Assembly house chairperson for committees, Cedric Frolick indicated that hosting venues outside Parliament would cost almost R100,000 per meeting.

“The other option is that we make use of facilities around Parliament, but those are private businesses and they run businesses, they have conference centres and hotels. In the past when we made use of them they don’t only allow you to come in there for an hour or two to have your meeting.

“You must buy a conference package for all the attendees, which is costing a lot of money. A three-hour session for the morning can easily run between R60,000 and R90,000 per meeting and that is pre-Covid rates that I am talking about.

“The administration is fully aware of the challenges that we are experiencing,” said Frolick.

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

In a separate meeting, Mapisa-Nqakula told the Joint Standing Committee on the Financial Management on Friday there had been informal discussions with Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana over a Special Appropriations Bill following the Parliament fire.

The Speaker said she will meet with Godongwana now that he has tabled the Budget in Parliament.

“We may be having a meeting in the coming two weeks now that the budget presentation is done.

“One of the things we are agreeing on when we talk together is that there may be a possibility that the National Treasury may have to pass a Special Appropriations Bill for Parliament in order for us to do some of the things we are meant to do because of the destruction which was caused by the fire.

“But those are issues that will be determined by him when we interact with him,” she said.

Parliament fire

The fire that broke out on 2 January affected both the Old Assembly Wing and the National Assembly Wing of the buildings of Parliament, which house the chambers of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).

The City of Cape Town’s preliminary report into the incident revealed how Parliament wasn’t compliant with fire safety regulations and had lax security on the days leading up to the fire.

The report found that the sprinkler control valve set on the southern façade of the Old Assembly building had not activated and that the sprinklers did not go off.

READ MORE: Destroyed Parliament building was not insured

It also stated that the sprinklers were last serviced last in 2017, even though a service was scheduled for February 2020.

It emerged that the fire doors were not properly closed when the fire broke out due to latches specifically fitted to prevent them from closing.

The damage to Parliament still being assessed by the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure’s engineers.

Mapisa-Nqakula said it hasn’t been determined on whether Parliament should be rebuilt or built from scratch at a different location as it was too early.

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