CAPE TOWN. – The Democratic Alliance has asked Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on the Financial Management of Parliament to investigate the Parliament rebuild project in full, after the cost of restoring the fire damaged precinct climbed to R4.6 billion.
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What the DA wants from the Parliament rebuild project
The party says the work was budgeted at R2.1 billion after the January 2022 fire and has since more than doubled. DA NCOP Whip Rikus Badenhorst says the transfer of the project from the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure to Parliament was not carried out lawfully.
He argues the Government Immovable Asset Management Act 19 of 2007 required then Public Works Minister Patricia de Lille to effect the transfer in writing, and that the change of custodianship had to be gazetted. According to the DA neither step was taken.
“We have a Secretary to Parliament whose appointment has been called into question. Several allegations of maladministration hang over his head. His astronomical salary shows all signs of being irregular. That same man is also in control of a R4.6 billion project,” Badenhorst told The Daily Pod.
The DA has given the committee co-chairpersons seven days to respond.
Committee has rejected the claims
The Joint Standing Committee rejected the DA’s claims on Monday, saying the governance and implementation arrangements for the project followed engagements between Parliament, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure and National Treasury.
Secretary to Parliament Xolile George has previously denied that he or any relative benefited from the project and told MPs that claims of it running over budget were false. The New Assembly building is due for completion in November 2026 and the Old Assembly building in January 2027.
Source: Democratic Alliance, IOL, The Citizen
