CAPE TOWN, South Africa — A man was due in court on
Tuesday after a massive fire completely destroyed
South Africa's national
assembly, officials said, as the blaze at the historic legislature continued to
rage.
اضافة اعلان
An investigation has been opened into the fire which started
at around 3pm GMT on Sunday in the parliament complex's oldest wing, which was
completed in 1884 and has wood-paneled rooms.
As day dawned, smoke could be seen billowing from the
building against a blue sky.
"The entire chamber where the members sit ... has
burned down," parliamentary spokesman Moloto Mothapo said, adding that the
blaze had still not been extinguished and two fires had apparently been sparked
in two separate areas of the precinct.
No casualties had been reported but President
Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters at the scene a man had been held and that sprinkler
systems had apparently failed.
Later Sunday, police said a suspect was due in court.
"A man has been arrested inside the parliament, he's
still being interrogated. We have opened a criminal case. He has been arrested
and will appear in court on Tuesday," police spokeswoman Thandi Mbambo
said.
The historic parliament building houses a collection of rare
books and the original copy of the former Afrikaans national anthem "Die
Stem van Suid-Afrika" ("The Voice of South Africa"), which was
already damaged.
"The roof of the Old Assembly building has collapsed
and is gone," Jean-Pierre Smith, Cape Town's mayoral committee member for
safety and security, told reporters earlier.
"The entire building has suffered extensively smoke and
water damage," Smith said, adding "the fire has not been
contained".
After ravaging the older wing of the building, the flames
spread to newer parts of the complex which are currently in use.
"Firefighters are currently trying to control the fire
in the New Wing, where the fire has affected the National Assembly
Chamber," Mothapo told an online news conference earlier in the day.
The imposing red and white building was still shrouded in a
thick cloud of black at midday.
Meters from Tutu's burial
A team of firefighters who were first to arrive at the scene
battled the flames for several hours before being forced to retreat and call
for reinforcements.
Around 70 firefighters were later deployed, some using a
crane to spray water on the blaze.
Former Cape Town mayor and current minister Patricia de
Lille warned it would still be several hours before the fire was brought under
control.
Inside the rooms, fine showers of grey ash fell from the
ceiling to the floor, which was already littered with debris.
Emergency services said they feared the fire could spread
swiftly through the old rooms, which are decorated with wood, thick carpets and
curtains.
Images broadcast on television had earlier shown giant flames
leaping from the roof.
The area around the fire in the upmarket neighborhood was
quickly cordoned off.
The cordon stretched to a square where flowers were still
displayed in front of the nearby St. George's Cathedral, where anti-apartheid
icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu's funeral took place on Saturday.
After a simple, no-frills mass, with a cheap coffin —
according to the famously modest Tutu's instructions — his ashes were interred
in the cathedral on Sunday.
Second fire in a year
Cape Town has been home to South Africa's houses of
parliament since 1910, when separate administrations formed a union under
British dominion and became a predecessor to the modern South African republic.
The site includes the National Assembly and the upper house
National Council of Provinces, while the government is based in Pretoria.
It was in parliament where South Africa's last apartheid
president FW de Klerk announced in 1990 plans to dismantle the brutal
white-minority regime.
The houses of parliament in Cape Town consist of three
sections, with the newer additions constructed in the 1920s and 1980s.
Another fire also broke out in the older wings of parliament
in March, but it was quickly contained.
Cape Town suffered another major fire in April, when a blaze
on the famed Table Mountain which overlooks the city spread, ravaging part of
The University of Cape Town's library holding a unique collection of African
archives.
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