{"id":95411,"date":"2026-02-06T19:40:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T19:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/speaker-defends-r30-million-parliament-tent-cost"},"modified":"2026-02-06T20:11:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T20:11:17","slug":"speaker-defends-r30-million-parliament-tent-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/speaker-defends-r30-million-parliament-tent-cost","title":{"rendered":"Speaker Defends R30 Million Parliament Tent Cost"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza says she does not believe the approximately R30 million spent on a temporary venue for the National Assembly is excessive, considering the importance of a functioning Parliament.<\/p>\n<p>Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson on Friday handed over a refurbished dome tent to Parliament after ten weeks of work to turn it into a suitable makeshift chamber.<\/p>\n<p>Erected on a parking lot, the dome was only in use for two months early last year before it was shuttered following complaints from MPs that it was unsafe and not fit for purpose.<\/p>\n<p>Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson says he is proud of the hard work his engineers have put into reinforcing the dome tent, which was first used for the funeral of former President Nelson Mandela in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>While not in use for most of last year, the structure took a battering in the Cape\u2019s stormy weather. New skins and steel braces now form part of the reinforced structure.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It\u2019s also a symbol of the state\u2019s ability to adapt, respond, and keep institutions functioning during challenging times.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Speaker Thoko Didiza says while some might criticise the cost\u2014which Parliament will share with Public Works\u2014a suitable meeting venue that also makes room for the public is necessary.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Parliament exercises its oversight over the executive, and it\u2019s important that that functioning happens optimally.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>While the State of the Nation Address will still be delivered at the City Hall next week, the dome will be used for the three-day debate.<\/p>\n<p>However, the National Treasury has requested for the national budget to be tabled at the City Hall instead, but Parliament says it will have to do so at its own cost.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">South-Africa<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza says she does not believe the approximately R30 million spent on a temporary venue for the National Assembly is excessive, considering the importance of a functioning Parliament. Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson on Friday handed over a refurbished dome tent to Parliament after ten weeks of work [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":95410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-95411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Speaker Defends R30 Million Parliament Tent Cost - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza says she does not believe the approximately R30 million spent on a temporary venu ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/speaker-defends-r30-million-parliament-tent-cost\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Speaker Defends R30 Million Parliament Tent Cost\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza says she does not believe the approximately R30 million spent on a temporary venu ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/speaker-defends-r30-million-parliament-tent-cost\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-06T19:40:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-06T20:11:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/02\/sm_1770395905.326185.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/speaker-defends-r30-million-parliament-tent-cost#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/speaker-defends-r30-million-parliament-tent-cost\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Speaker Defends R30 Million Parliament Tent Cost\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-06T19:40:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-06T20:11:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/speaker-defends-r30-million-parliament-tent-cost\"},\"wordCount\":303,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/speaker-defends-r30-million-parliament-tent-cost#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/02\/sm_1770395905.326185.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/speaker-defends-r30-million-parliament-tent-cost#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/speaker-defends-r30-million-parliament-tent-cost\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/speaker-defends-r30-million-parliament-tent-cost\",\"name\":\"Speaker Defends R30 Million Parliament Tent Cost - 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