The building of the South African National Assembly, in Cape Town, was totally destroyed in a violent fire that broke out on the morning of this Sunday and that remains uncontrolled. For what happened, there is a detained person who will appear in court on Tuesday.
Up to now no victims were registered but there were serious material damagesaid Moloto Mothapo, the Parliament’s spokesman. The origin of the fire is not officially known either.
The flames were detected around 5 in the morning (local time) in the oldest wing of the building, made up of wood-covered rooms where the seats of the deputies used to be.
“The roof of the building that houses the National Assembly (lower house of Parliament) collapsed, there is nothing left”, lamented the head of the city’s security services, Jean-Pierre Smith, regarding the state of the establishment, which “suffered significant damage from smoke and water.”
“It appears that the automatic extinguishing system did not work as it should have”President Cyril Ramaphosa explained to the press from the scene. “The work of the parliament will continue,” clarified the South African head of state.
Thandi Mbambo, spokesman for the Hawks, the elite unit of the South African police, confirmed in recent hours that “a man was arrested inside the parliament”. “He is still being interrogated. We are opening a criminal investigation (…) and he will appear in court on Tuesday,” he said.
The fire
The flames, according to the local press, not only reached the old wing but also devoured the most recent parts of the compound, currently in service.
The streets of the residential neighborhood where the parliament is located were quickly closed, while 70 firefighters try to put out the fire: the lanyard extends to the flowers still exposed in the atrium of the neighboring Saint-Georges cathedral, where the funeral of Desmond Tutu, the last hero of the anti-apartheid struggle, died on December 26.
According to local media, a team of 30 firefighters, who fought the fire for several hours, before having to back off and call for reinforcements due to the intensity of the fire.
Inside the halls, a fine shower of gray ash fell from the ceilings onto the rubble-strewn floors. Fire crews feared that the fire would spread rapidly into the former parliament halls, adorned with thick carpets and draperies.
“It is shocking to see our National Assembly like this,” tweeted Brett Herron, representative of the Western Cape province in Parliament. Former MP Mmusi Maimane also took to social media to lament the episode, which he described as a “tragedy.”
Historic building
The building, of red brick and white facade, was completed in 1884 and was the scene of historical moments: there, the last president of the apartheid era, FW de Klerk, announced in February 1990 the end of the racist regime.
The property houses a valuable collection of books. It also keeps the original copy of the first national anthem in Afrikaans, “Die Stem Suid-Afrika” (The voice of South Africa), sung during apartheid.
Cape Town, the seat of Parliament since 1910, already suffered a major fire in April on Table Mountain, which destroyed the treasures of a prestigious university library.
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