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Smoke rises from the House of Representatives in Cape Town
Photo: SUMAYA HISHAM / REUTERS
The Chamber of Deputies of South Africa in Cape Town was completely destroyed in a fire.
The flames that have been raging since the morning had "completely burned" the Chamber of Deputies, said a parliamentary speaker on Sunday afternoon.
The fire is still not under control and the cause is unclear.
However, there is a suspect who is due to appear in court on Tuesday, the police said.
Information about possible victims was initially not available.
According to the head of state, Cyril Ramaphosa, a man was arrested and questioned.
According to a police spokeswoman, it is a 51-year-old who was in the parliamentary complex.
"He is still being questioned as part of a criminal investigation (...) and will appear in court on Tuesday," said Thandi Mbambo, spokeswoman for an elite unit of the South African police.
70 firefighters on duty
The fire brigade had to call in reinforcements during the day. Around 70 firefighters were then on duty. They tried to put out the flames from a crane. Nevertheless, the fire spread from the older wing of the building to newer parts of the complex. The roof of the old assembly building had collapsed beforehand. The building, completed in 1884, is the oldest in the parliament complex and has a number of wood-paneled meeting rooms. According to the authorities, the fire broke out around 4:00 a.m. (CET).
At noon the imposing Victorian building was shrouded in a thick cloud of black smoke.
TV images showed how huge flames came out of the roof of the building.
Overall, the parliament complex consists of three parts.
The newer building complex, which is used by today's National Assembly, dates from the 1920s and 1980s.
The rescue workers cordoned off the streets of the neighborhood.
The barriers reached near the cathedral, where the funeral service for the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Bishop Desmond Tutu had taken place the day before and where the tutu was buried in an urn early Sunday morning.
Cape Town has been the seat of the South African parliament, which consists of the National Assembly and the Upper House - the Council of Provinces - since 1910, while the government is based in Pretoria.
In 1990 the then President Frederik de Klerk declared the end of the racist apartheid regime in the parliament in Cape Town.
The building had already burned in March, but the fire was quickly brought under control.
In April, a major fire on Table Mountain in Cape Town caused devastation.
The fire hit several historical buildings and destroyed parts of the university library, among other things.
cbu / afp