Cape Town: Fire in South African Parliament, outdated National Assembly roof collapses

A hearth broke out on the South African Parliament constructing in Cape Town within the early hours of Sunday morning, and unfold to the wing housing the present National Assembly, the place parliament sits.
As it continued to unfold, the fireplace in a while Sunday induced the roof of the outdated National Assembly constructing to break down, although the parliament sits within the newer model.
Jean-Pierre Smith, Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for security and safety, mentioned 36 firefighters have been on the scene.
“The roof of the Old Assembly building has collapsed and is gone,” Smith instructed reporters.
They have been nonetheless preventing the fireplace greater than eight hours later.
The hearth broke out round 3:00 a.m. UTC (0400 CET) and was on the third story of the Parliament constructing. Reports indicated that it began within the workplace house and unfold in direction of a fitness center.
The close by space, together with the cathedral the place Archbishop Desmond Tutu was buried on Saturday, was cordoned off.
No casualties have been reported, and it was not instantly clear if anybody was within the constructing when the fireplace began.
‘Situation under control’
Minister of Public Works Patricia de Lille instructed reporters that the fireplace began on the third flooring of an outdated constructing that homes workplaces. It then unfold to the outdated Parliament constructing, which is positioned behind the National Assembly constructing.
She mentioned firefighters “have the situation under control,” however the hearth unfold quickly after and tore via the present Parliament constructing.
The reason for the blaze continues to be unknown. De Lille mentioned officers have been reviewing CCTV footage to find out the reason for the fireplace.
Parliament speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula cautioned in opposition to hypothesis that the fireplace was a deliberate assault.
“Until such a time that a report has been furnished that there was arson, we have to be careful not to make suggestions that there was an attack,” she mentioned.
The Houses of Parliament in Cape Town include three principal sections. The oldest was constructed in 1884, and the newer sections have been added within the Twenties and Eighties. While South Africa’s National Assembly and higher House National Council of Provinces are positioned in Cape Town, the federal government is predicated in Pretoria.
It is the second large hearth Cape Town has endured in latest instances. In April of 2020, a wildfire that began on the slopes of Table Mountain, destroyed the University of Cape Town campus, and ravaged its historic library that housed a priceless African Studies assortment described as “unique in the world.”