[imagesource:demo.piidigital]

The government has launched a website to keep track of the rebuilding of Parliament, with a video and images showing the planned ‘biophilic structure’ replacing the one the homeless guy burnt down.

Indeed, thanks to Zandile Mafe’s free-roaming weekend in Parliament in 2022, we will be spending close to R3 billion on the new look, which pays homage to the protea.

Ironically, there are still people in Parliament who have caused more damage than that, but this is not the time to delve into that. As most of the election posters say: It’s rebuilding time.

The National Assembly will be demolished and replaced with a biophilic structure (mimicking nature) – in this case, resembling a protea, South Africa’s national flower and symbol of parliament, as well as having a design conceptualised around ‘sitting under a yellowwood tree’.

While R2 billion was initially projected to be the cost of the repairs and upgrades, this has been revised upwards slightly to R2.1 billion.

The re-do will also encompass the replacement of ICT infrastructure and an overall modernisation of the facilities which will cost an additional R943 million.

The project’s timelines have been revised again, with the final handover and completion moving from December 2025 to 20 April 2026. The final account and closeout is now expected in July 2026 (previously February 2026).

The Secretary to Parliament presented the latest update on the rebuilding of parliament, as well as introducing a WhatsApp chatbot where South Africans can “have their say” on the project.

Check out our new digs:

Members of Parliament have all agreed to take a pay cut to pay for the new Parliament. Just kidding, they won’t do that, but it is pretty, right? It doesn’t look like a rooftop extractor vent at all.

Let’s hope they put in locks that work this time.

[source:businesstech]