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Media verklaring - 3 Januarie 2022
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Brand by Parlement is simbolies van staatsverval
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Verklaring deur Dries Wiese
Voorsitter van die Afrikanerbond
Die brand by die Parlement is simbolies van staatsverval
Op die tweede dag van 2022 is Suid-Afrika geskud deur die verwoestende brand by die parlementêre kompleks in Kaapstad. Die omvang van die skade is nog nie bekend nie maar voorlopige berigte dui op wesenlike skade aan die demokratiese instelling.
Die brand by die parlement as demokratiese instelling en deel van die wetgewende gesag is egter simptomaties van die staatsverval wat in feitelik elke sfeer van die demokrasie voorkom. Ongelukkig het die parlement egter self versuim om die uitvoerende gesag en senior amptenare in die staatsadministrasie behoorlik tot verantwoording te roep. Nou het die parlement self ‘n slagoffer geword van ‘n regering se totale onvermoë om verantwoordelik om te gaan met historiese skatte. Na die vorige brand in die parlement is die billike verwagting dat die nodige maatreëls in plek sou wees om voorsorg te tref. Hoeveel brande en verwoesting van infrastruktuur moet nog plaasvind voordat daar aksie is. Ons word herinner aan ryk kultuurerfenisse soos stadsale, wat in puin gelê is, spoorwegstasies wat ‘n leë dop huisves en munisipale, provinsiale en nasionale eiendomme waar geen instandhouding gedoen is nie. Hoe meer die regering sy eie verantwoordelikheid versaak hoe meer moet die burgery self die tekortkominge aanvul. Midde in dit alles word Afrikaners se kultuurerfenisse ook geteiken, maar vind ons deurlopend oplossings deur doelgerigte en voorkomende aksies. Dit is egter ‘n baie klein druppel in ‘n oseaan van verval, onbevoegdheid en nalatigheid.
Die groter hartseer is die simboliek van die parlement as demokratiese instelling wat verlede jaar die plek was waar die grondwet onder beleg gekom het, maar suksesvol afgeweer is. Nou is die einste demokratiese instelling gedeeltelik verwoes. Omdat die regering nie meer vertrou kan word met nasionale en kulturele bates nie doen ons ‘n ernstige beroep op opposisiepartye wat erns het met die grondwet, om binne-parlementêr alle moontlike prosesse te volg om die uitvoerende gesag volledig aanspreeklik te hou vir die staatsverval waarvan die parlement nou die openbare gesig geword het.
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STATEMENT BY DRIES WIESE
CHAIRPERSON OF THE AFRIKANERBOND
PARLIAMENT ALL BUT UP IN FLAMES
• This is symbolic of the greater state decay
On the second day of 2022, South Africa was shaken by a devastating fire at the parliamentary complex in Cape Town. The extent is not yet known, but preliminary reports indicate significant damage to this democratic institution.
Not only that, though — the fire at Parliament, as a democratic institution and part of the legislative sphere, is symptomatic of the state decay that characterises virtually every sphere of our democracy. Parliament has namely failed to hold the executive and senior officials in the state administration accountable. Now Parliament itself has fallen victim to the complete and utter ineptness of Government as custodian of our nation’s treasures.
After the previous fire in Parliament, one would expect the necessary precautionary measures to have been put in place. How many fires and destruction of infrastructure must we witness before action will be taken? We are reminded of rich cultural legacies such as city halls which have been reduced to rubble, railway stations that house empty shells, and municipal, provincial and national properties where no maintenance has been done.
The more Government abandons its own responsibilities, the more the citizenry find themselves having to step in to make up for the shortcomings. In the midst of all this, Afrikaners' cultural heritage is also being targeted, yet we constantly manage to find solutions through purposeful and preventive actions. Still, it can only ever be a tiny drop in what has become an ocean of decay, incompetence and negligence.
What is even sadder is the symbolism, last year, of our very constitution coming under siege in Parliament as a democratic institution, thankfully to be successfully stopped at the time. Now that same democratic institution has been partially destroyed.
Government can clearly no longer be trusted with our national and cultural assets. We therefore strongly urge opposition parties that are serious about the constitution to follow all possible parliamentary processes to hold the executive fully accountable for the state collapse of which Parliament has now become the public face.
3 January 2022
