Africa-Press – South-Africa. EFF leader Julius Malema couldn’t muster any support for his party’s plan to relocate Parliament to Tshwane.
The ANC, DA, IFP and FF Plus shot down the EFF’s proposed bill, citing the costs it would involve, and the fact that the EFF – a party proclaiming its allegiance to the working class – didn’t consider the effect this would have on Parliament’s staff.
Malema introduced a private member’s bill, to relocate the seat of Parliament to Tshwane, to a mini-plenary of the National Assembly on Thursday.
“The EFF founding manifest calls for one city, Tshwane, as the administrative and legislative capital of South Africa,” said Malema.
He said the current arrangement, where Cape Town is the legislative capital and Pretoria the administrative capital, had been wrought out of a colonial agreement in the aftermath of the “Anglo Boer War”, also known as the South African War.
“Africans were not represented, because we were treated as less than human beings with no right to self-determination,” he said.
“Today, we do not have a reason to continue to be upholding this colonial and racial pact that the liberation party has imposed on our people. This is the same party that continues to impose Die Stem in the National Anthem on all of us.”
Malema argued that a Parliament in Tshwane would be more accessible to people.
“Parliament has so far been a playground for associations representing the private sector, unions out of touch with the reality, and NGOs funded by George Soros and the Oppenheimers, while our people are excluded.
“This is why we must relocate the seat of Parliament to Tshwane in Gauteng province.
“We will relocate Parliament to Tshwane in our lifetime. The time has come, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.”
He didn’t convince any of the other parties who participated in the debate – the ANC, DA, IFP and FF Plus – who all raised the issue that Parliament is a heritage building that has to be rebuilt.
It would not make economic sense to rebuild the current Parliament and then relocate Parliament to Tshwane, incurring even greater costs.
The DA’s deputy chief whip, Annelie Lotriet, said: “This is the wrong debate at the wrong time for the wrong reasons.”
She said relocation shouldn’t be done based on ideological and political reasons – it should be based on comprehensive studies. What will happen to the parliamentary staff, to their families?” she asked.
The IFP’s chief whip, Narend Singh, said it was desirable that Parliament and the administration be located close to each other.
He said the topic had long been a subject of discussion, but it had been overtaken by events, namely the fire that razed the National Assembly wing and severely damaged the Old Assembly wing.
“For now, it puts paid to any debate about the relocation of Parliament. The facts make it irrevocably clear that we simply cannot afford to relocate at this time,” Singh said.
The leader of the FF Plus, Pieter Groenewald, said that, for his party, it was all about the costs – and he didn’t accept the figures the EFF provided in their bill.
He said the about 2 000 parliamentary staff members would have to move their families. He said he didn’t understand how the EFF didn’t consider this, as they always claim to act on behalf of workers.
The ANC’s Hope Papo pointed to the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the January 2022 fire.
“In this difficult economic climate, it would be highly irresponsible to restore damaged parliamentary buildings and thereafter abandon and move to Gauteng because of this slight of the Western Cape province, as if the province isn’t part of one united South Africa.”
He, too, noted that the parliamentary staff would have to move.
“They have not been consulted and their views heard,” Papo said.
“The views of the people from the other provinces, in particular Gauteng, where I come from, will also have to be heard on this matter.”
He called on all parties and South Africans to reject the bill “with the contempt it deserves”.
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