Chantall Presence
African News Agency
THE possibility of moving Parliament from Cape Town to Pretoria will be up for debate in Parliament soon, National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete said yesterday.
“We will also, in due course, engage through our processes on the president’s request to ‘consider the maintenance of two capitals’ as a cost-saving measure,” Mbete said while opening the debate on Parliament’s budget vote.
During his State of the Nation address in February, President Jacob Zuma asked Parliament to debate the viability of having two capitals – Pretoria as the administrative capital and Cape Town as the legislative capital – suggesting the government would save costs if it did not have to fly officials between the cities.
Mbete also used her speech to lobby for Parliament to take over the property maintenance function from the Public Works Department, lamenting the fact that the legislature’s facilities remained inadequate for MPs.
“The time has now come for Parliament to become responsible for its precinct, property and buildings.
“This is entirely feasible, as National Treasury and the Department of Public Works, implemented a change in policy between the year 2000 and 2004 to allow for capital budgets to be devolved to relevant budget votes.”