Man Must Appear in Court After Fire Ravaged South African Parliament | South Africa

A man is due to appear in court on Tuesday after a massive fire tore through South Africa’s national assembly building.

An investigation into the fire that started around 3 a.m. Sunday was opened in the oldest wing of the parliament complex, which was completed in 1884 and has wood-paneled rooms.

At dawn, smoke could be seen rising from the building against a blue sky.

“The entire chamber where the members sit … has been burned,” said Parliamentary spokesman Moloto Mothapo, adding that two fires had apparently started in two separate areas of the compound.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters at the scene that a man had been detained and that sprinkler systems had apparently failed. No casualties were reported.

Police said a suspect should appear in court. “A man has been arrested within parliament [and] he is still being interrogated. We have opened a criminal case. He has been arrested and will appear in court on Tuesday, ”said a police spokesman.

The building houses a collection of rare books and the original copy of the old Afrikaans national anthem Die Stem van Suid-Afrika (The Voice of South Africa), which was already damaged.

“The roof of the old assembly building collapsed and disappeared,” Jean-Pierre Smith, a member of the Cape Town mayor’s safety and security committee, told reporters Sunday morning.

“The entire building has suffered extensive smoke and water damage,” Smith said, adding that “the fire has not been contained.”

After devastating the oldest wing of the building, the flames spread to the newer parts of the complex that are currently in use, and the towering red and white building was still shrouded in a thick black cloud at noon.

The firefighting team that reached the scene first battled the flames for several hours before being forced to retreat and call in reinforcements. About 70 firefighters were later deployed, some using a crane to spray water on the fire. Inside the rooms, fine showers of gray ash fell from the ceiling to the floor, which was already strewn with rubble.

Emergency services said they feared the fire would spread rapidly through the old rooms, which are decorated with wood, thick rugs and curtains. Images broadcast on television had previously shown giant flames leaping from the ceiling.

The area around the fire in the upscale neighborhood was quickly cordoned off, extending to a plaza where flowers were still on display in front of nearby St. George’s Cathedral, the site of Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s funeral on Saturday.

After a simple and no-frills mass, with a cheap coffin, according to the instructions of the famous and modest Tutu, his ashes were buried in the cathedral on Sunday.

Cape Town has been home to South Africa’s houses of parliament since 1910, when separate administrations formed a union under British rule and became the predecessors of the modern South African republic.

The site includes the national assembly and the national council of provinces of the upper house, while the government is based in Pretoria.

It was in parliament that South African President FW de Klerk announced plans in 1990 to dismantle the apartheid regime.

The Houses of Parliament in Cape Town consist of three sections, with the newest additions being built in the 1920s and 1980s.

Another fire broke out in the oldest wings of parliament in March, but it was quickly contained.

Cape Town suffered another major fire in April, when a fire spread from Table Mountain, which overlooks the city, devastating part of the University of Cape Town library that has a unique collection of African archives.