Johannesburg - Speaker Baleka Mbete revived plans to expand the parliamentary precinct when she used Tuesday’s Parliament budget vote debate to announce that the space utilisation project would be completed during the five-year term.
“The shortage of office space, parking and meeting venues and other facilities, such as members’ (parliamentarians) accommodation, have had negative logistical and financial effects over the past 21 years. This directly affects Parliament’s capacity to increase public participation. We do not have adequate venues and facilities to support these responsibilities,” Mbete said.
Last year there was talk of expansion at a cost of R1.4 billion by building, among other things, a banqueting facility, car park and offices. But the plans were put on ice pending discussions with National Treasury.
In mid-2011 there was some confusion about whether the demolition of a building across the road from the gates of Parliament meant space for parliamentary offices, as the national legislature claimed, while the Department of Public Works maintained it knew nothing of such plans.
The empty lot remains vacant.
In 2007 parliamentary expansion plans surfaced during Mbete’s first stint as Speaker. This was mired in controversy as opposition parties claimed the project – at an estimated cost of R1bn – was shrouded in secrecy after it emerged that an architect had been asked to draft the initial plans.
All planned but not executed, parliamentary precinct expansion schemes also mooted accommodation for MPs who are bused in daily from the three parliamentary villages as far afield as Goodwood and Grassy Park, as are some senior departmental officials. Every year there are crunch times during which Parliament spends hundreds of thousands of rand to hire outside venues, including hotels, for committee meetings.
“This Parliament was de-signed to accommodate a tricameral Parliament and not the needs of an inclusive government such as ours,” said Mbete. “As members (of Parliament) are aware, the current environment in terms of space is not adequate.”
However, no funding details were provided and it also remains unclear how the project will be funded from the just under R2bn national legislature budget.
Instead Mbete said the so-called space utilisation project would be managed by the national legislature’s accounting officer, the Secretary to Parliament Gengezi Mgidlana, in conjunction with Public Works.
DA deputy chief whip Mike Waters raised concerns over the financial administration of Parliament, saying the lack of a committee for Parliament effectively gave presiding officers a blank cheque and left the opposition out of the loop with no access to the required documentation.
“As the signator of Parliament’s budget, the Speaker Baleka Mbete neglected to inform the opposition of these, as well as other financial developments, via the Parliament Oversight Authority or any other communicative platform,” said Waters.
“There is no legislative imperative for the Secretary (to Parliament) or presiding officers to accommodate the views of members on how Parlia- ment’s operations are resourced and MPs are disempowered in carrying out effective oversight of public money and preventing potential corrupt activities.”
The DA had repeatedly written to the Speaker and Secretary requesting itemised breakdowns, cost-benefit analyses and justifications for some of Parliament’s questionable purchases but had yet to receive a response, he added.
Policital Bureau