The enclosure of the National Assembly where the South African deputies sit was completely destroyed by a violent fire which has been raging since early Sunday morning at the seat of Parliament in Cape Town.
“The chamber where the members sit has completely burned down,” Parliament spokesman Moloto Mothapo said, adding that “the fire is not yet extinguished”.
No casualties have been reported, but the historic building which houses a valuable collection of books and the original copy of the first national anthem in Afrikaans, "Die Stem Suid-Afrika" (The Voice of South Africa) sung during the apartheid, is already badly damaged.
The origin of the fire is not known at this stage.
"A person is being questioned," declared President Cyril Ramaphosa, who visited the site.
Police have confirmed detaining a 51-year-old man.
⚡ VIDEO SHOCK - #SouthAfrica: A major fire broke out this Sunday morning at the seat of the South African Parliament in Cape Town.
#SouthAfrica #fire pic.twitter.com/xMiwIAzm2F
- FranceNews24 (@ FranceNews24) January 2, 2022
The fire started around 5 a.m. (3 a.m. GMT) in the oldest wing of the building, completed in 1884, with rooms covered with precious wood and where parliamentarians previously sat.
"The roof of the old building housing the National Assembly has collapsed, nothing remains of it," Jean-Pierre Smith, the head of the city's security and emergency services, told reporters.
"The whole has suffered significant damage from smoke and water," he added.
The hall of the National Assembly affected
The fire then spread to the more recent parts now in service.
"Firefighters are currently trying to bring the blaze under control in the new wing, where the fire has affected the current National Assembly Hall," Moloto Mothapo said at an online press conference.
Aerial images on television showed huge flames rising from rooftops.
The streets of the upscale neighborhood were quickly cordoned off.
The security cordon extended to the flowers still spread on the forecourt of the neighboring Saint-Georges Cathedral, where the funeral of Desmond Tutu, the last hero of the anti-apartheid struggle who died on December 26, took place the day before.
At dawn on Sunday, his ashes were buried in the church in a private ceremony.
Some 70 firefighters were mobilized against the disaster.
Some tried, with a water lance from the top of a crane, to overcome the flames.
A first aid team arrived early on the scene tried for several hours to calm the fire but had to back down in the face of its intensity and call for reinforcements.
Inside the rooms, a fine rain of gray ash fell from the ceilings onto floors strewn with debris.
The emergency services fear that the fire will continue to spread rapidly in these old rooms adorned with rich carpets and curtains.
Already a fire in March
It was in Parliament that the last white South African president to die in November, FW de Klerk, announced in February 1990 the end of the racist apartheid regime.
The building had already been the victim of a quickly contained fire in March, also starting from its oldest wing.
The recent annexes were built in the 1920s and 1980s.
Cape Town has been the seat of Parliament since 1910, made up of the National Assembly and an upper house called the National Council of Provinces, while the government is based in Pretoria.
In April, a fire on Table Mountain overlooking the coastal city had spread and destroyed treasures in the library of the prestigious Cape Town University below.
