On Tuesday, during a sitting in Bloemfontein, the committee led by chairperson, Neels Van Rooyen, took the department to book regarding R 10 million meant solely for advisory fees in connection with the project. The members each questioned why more money was being spent on the project when R 120 million has already been used, but cannot be accounted for.

Two of the projects’ critics, EFF MPL, Kgotso Morapela, and DA MPL, David Van Vuuren, told Public Works Department Head, Gadija Brown, and her team that the jury is out on the future of the project until reports by the Auditor General and the Free State Institute of Architects on the controversial project are released. Those reports are expected to be released soon. Brown defended the R 560 million project and the importance of seeing it through. She stresses that ending the project completely would result in fruitless and wasteful expenditure seeing as money had already been spent. Brown argued, while no tangible work can be seen on the ground, 24% of the much-publicised R 120 million was spent on consults, planning and designs and the additional R 10 million for advisory fees is intended to ensure that the project is seen through and no money is wasted. “The decision to appropriate R 10 million for this financial year wasn’t agitated by individuals. It’s agitated by governance and our responsibility to the public and to the taxpayers” says the Provincial Public Works Head.

The Ramkraal Prison, which was registered as a National Heritage Site on July 13, 1990, was selected by the provincial government as the ground onto which a new legislature building would be built and parts of the prison would be converted into a museum at a cost of R 560 million. It was revealed, during the sitting, that the decision to do this was made around 2014, after it was discovered that homeless people were living in the dilapidated structure. Brown explained that the provincial government was unable to fund the full R 560 million and, as a result, investment is required to complete the project. The department head told the committee that the R 10 million advisory fees are meant to lay the groundwork for a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) which, according to Treasury’s website, is defined “as a contract between a public-sector institution and a private party, where the private party performs a function that is usually provided by the public sector and/or uses state property in terms of the PPP agreement”.

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