WATCH | 'We will rise again from these ashes': Parliament finds a new home at city hall

Despite the devastation of the fire which engulfed parliament four weeks ago, National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is confident that the country “will rise again from these ashes”.

In the aftermath of the devastating fire, the city of Cape Town has handed over the keys to city hall and declared it to be the parliamentary precinct. It will host the annual state of the nation address on February 10.

“Parliament, as an institution, remains intact, competent and able to fulfil its obligations to the people,” Mapisa-Nqakula said at the ceremonial handing over of the building to parliament.

“This building will undergo a transfiguration and it will become our nation's parliament,” said mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.

Mapisa-Nqakula reflected on a key moment of former president Nelson Mandela’s long march to freedom, when he stood on the balcony of city hall and addressed the nation.

“We have thus come full circle. Thirty-two years since that historical occasion of February 11 1990 when he stood by the side of President Mandela, President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation from the same place on February 10 2022,” she said.

Hill-Lewis feels February 11 represents “hope and optimism for our country, it represented the defeat of something old and unjust and the ushering in of something new and, hopefully, united, peaceful, free and tolerant”.

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