”The Arch (Tutu) would’ve been devastated as well. “It’s just really a terrible setback,“ Ramaphosa said. South Africans viewed the fire as a double blow on the first two days of the new year, after saying farewell to Tutu and then seeing their Parliament burn. George’s Cathedral, about a block away from the Parliament. Ramaphosa and many of South Africa’s top politicians were in Cape Town for the funeral Saturday of retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu at St. “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 said. Parliament speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula cautioned against speculation that it was a deliberate attack on South Africa’s seat of democracy. Authorities were reviewing video camera footage and questioning the man arrested at the precinct. Police cordoned off the complex and closed nearby roads.ĭe Lille said an investigation was underway into the cause of the blaze. Cape Town activated its Disaster Coordinating Team, which reacts to major emergencies. Sunday, Carelse said, and the 35 firefighters initially on the scene quickly called for reinforcements. Security guards first reported the fire at around 6 a.m. The news electrified the country and reverberated around the world. de Klerk stood up at the opening of Parliament in 1990 and announced he was freeing Nelson Mandela from prison and effectively ending the apartheid system of white minority rule. While the Old Assembly building was closely connected to South Africa’s colonial and apartheid history, the National Assembly building was where former President F.W. There were also fears that priceless artifacts inside, including a manuscript where the composer first wrote some lyrics for South Africa’s national anthem, would be lost forever.Ĭarelse warned that both buildings were at risk of collapsing. It spread to the newer National Assembly building, built in the 1980s, which is where the Parliament now sits.Īuthorities feared extensive damage to both buildings, which have stark white facades, elaborate roof linings and majestic columns, now all obscured by flames and smoke. Officials said the fire started in the Old Assembly building, which was built in 1884 and originally housed the South African Parliament but is now used for offices. “We have not been able to contain the fire in the National Assembly,” she added. “This is a very sad day for democracy, for Parliament is the home of our democracy.” “The fire is currently in the National Assembly chambers,” Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Patricia de Lille told reporters as smoke billowed behind her from the roof of the historic white building with grand entrance columns. Police later confirmed a 51-year-old man had been detained. Visiting the scene, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said a person was “being held and is being questioned” by police in connection with the blaze. No injuries have been reported and Parliament itself had been closed for the holidays. Some were lifted up on a crane to spray water on the blaze from above. As firefighters struggled to tame the blaze, a dark plume of smoke and flames rose high into the air above the southern city of Cape Town.Īround 70 firefighters were still battling the fire hours after it started in the early morning, Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Service spokesman Jermaine Carelse said. CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) - A major fire ripped through South Africa’s 138-year-old Parliament complex on Sunday, gutting offices and causing some ceilings to collapse at a site that has hosted some of the country’s pivotal moments.
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