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The Houses of Parliament of South Africa are situated in
Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
. The building consists of three main sections: the original building, completed in 1884, and additions constructed in the 1920s and 1980s. The newer additions house the
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...
(the lower house of the bicameral
Parliament of South Africa The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is South Africa's legislature; under the present Constitution of South Africa, the bicameral Parliament comprises a National Assembly and a National Council of Provinces. The current twenty-seve ...
), and the original building houses the
National Council of Provinces The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa under the (post-apartheid) constitution which came into full effect in 1997. It replaced the former Senate, but is very similar to that body, and to ...
(the upper house of Parliament). The original parliament building was designed in a Neoclassical style, incorporating features of
Cape Dutch architecture Cape Dutch architecture is an architectural style found mostly in the Western Cape of South Africa, but modern examples of the style have also been exported as far afield as Western Australia and New Zealand, typically on wine estates. The sty ...
. The later additions have been so designed as to blend with the original building. The Houses of Parliament have been declared a National Heritage Site by the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) and given grade 1 national heritage status, the highest grade set by SAHRA. Parliament House was severely damaged by a large fire that broke out on 2 January 2022.


History

Queen Victoria granted permission for the establishment of a parliament in the
Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with ...
in 1853. The first sittings were held in the Governor's residence, the
Tuynhuys De Tuynhuys (Garden House) is the Cape Town office of the president of South Africa. The building The building has in various guises been associated with the seat of the highest political authority in the land for almost two and a half cent ...
, after which sittings were held in the Goede Hoop Masonic Lodge. This building was used by the
South African Freemasons South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...
. (Their Lodge were called de Goede Hoop). The then upper house was housed in the old supreme court building, which itself had been the slave lodge under VOC rule.


The original parliament building

MPs noted that the masonic lodge building was unimposing, and did not command any respect. Although opposed by then Prime Minister
John Charles Molteno Sir John Charles Molteno (5 June 1814 – 1 September 1886) was a soldier, businessman, champion of responsible government and the first Prime Minister of the Cape Colony. Early life Born in London into a large Anglo-Italian family, Molteno ...
due to financial considerations, a committee was set up to receive designs for a new parliament building. The committee selected an elaborate design by architect Charles Freeman, and construction began on 12 May 1875, with the then Governor of the Cape Colony,
Henry Barkly Sir Henry Barkly (24 February 1815 – 20 October 1898) was a British politician, colonial governor and patron of the sciences. Early life and education Born on 24 February 1815 at Highbury, Middlesex (now London), he was the eldest son of ...
, laying the cornerstone. Almost immediately it was discovered that Freeman's plans were faulty. Freeman's errors were compounded by the presence of groundwater, and a recalculation of the budget revealed that the actual costs would be many times the original figure that the government had allowed for. For his incompetence, Freeman was fired, and Henry Greaves was appointed architect in 1876. Freeman's plans were altered to exclude seemingly unnecessarily expensive features such as a central dome, statues, parapets and fountains. Building re-commenced, but was delayed – this time by the British overthrow of the Cape government in 1878, the ensuing Confederation Wars, and finally by the building company going bankrupt in 1883. Greaves tenaciously completed the job however, and the large, stately, but relatively unpretentious building was finally opened in 1884. Cape Prime Minister Thomas Scanlen, and British Governor Henry Robinson led the opening ceremony in the building, declared finally to be worthy of the country's Legislature.


Later additions

In the 1920s, Parliament commissioned
Sir Herbert Baker Sir Herbert Baker (9 June 1862 – 4 February 1946) was an English architect remembered as the dominant force in South African architecture for two decades, and a major designer of some of New Delhi's most notable government structures. He ...
to build an extension to the building, including a new chamber for the House of Assembly. The old Assembly chamber became the Parliamentary Dining Room, run by the catering department of South African Railways & Harbours. A further extension was created in the 1980s, when the 1910 constitution was replaced with the awkward and novel tricameral constitution which provided a parliamentary house each for Whites, Coloureds, and Indians. Further constitutional changes moved the centre of power away from the old building and towards the newer wing.


2022 fire

During the morning of 2 January 2022, a fire broke out in third-floor offices in the parliamentary precinct and spread to the lower and upper houses. By mid-morning, fire crews were still attempting to control the fire. The buildings were severely damaged. It was reported that the sprinkler system had not functioned correctly, and protection services staff were not on duty. Police confirmed that a 49-year old man had been detained for questioning. He was subsequently arrested by the
Hawks Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. This subfamily ...
Priority Crime unit. He has reportedly been charged with arson, housebreaking and theft under the National Key Points Act, and appeared in court on 4 January. Identified by the ''New York Times'' as Zandile Christmas Mafe, 49, the suspect's sanity was questioned by prosecutors. The ''Times'' goes on to report, Mr. Mafe was "committed to a psychiatric hospital on Tuesday to determine whether he is fit to stand trial on terrorism and other charges."


See also

* Union Buildings *
Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), formerly known as the Appellate Division, is an appellate court in South Africa. It is located in Bloemfontein, the "judicial capital" of South Africa. History On the creation of the Union of South Africa f ...


References

{{Cape Town Parliament of South Africa Buildings and structures in Cape Town Seats of national legislatures