South Africa: alleged arsonist of Parliament accused of "terrorism"

The man suspected of being at the origin of the fire which ravaged the South African Parliament on January 2 in Cape Town was accused Tuesday January 11 of "terrorism", while many voices were raised to demand the liberation of this homeless man presented as a scapegoat.

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Zandile Christmas Mafe, 49, was arrested as early as Sunday while in parliament and was charged three days later in a brief court appearance in Cape Town.

The accused "

", according to the indictment consulted Tuesday by AFP.

“Free Mafe!”, “He's innocent!”

The man was already accused of breaking into the huge building in the center of Cape Town, of "

" and of stealing "

”. Since his arrest, many voices have been raised to stress that he was only a scapegoat, while the breaches of security and fire-fighting systems were to be blamed.

“

","

“Showed around thirty demonstrators who came to the Cape Town court on Tuesday at the opening of the hearing.

A homeless man was among them to tell his version of the fire this Sunday, January 2 at dawn.

He claims he was sleeping on a street alongside the building and heard it sound like a collision.

He assures that he then understood that it was a break-in, before the fire broke out in the building.

Read alsoSouth Africa: the fire under control in Parliament, according to firefighters

According to initial reports from South African authorities, the fire detection system was "

".

"

" and the entire sprinkler system was last overhauled in 2017, with an inspection scheduled for February 2020 not having been carried out, according to these reports.

South African firefighters had fought forty-eight before fully controlling the fire which ravaged the premises where the National Assembly meets.

No casualties had been recorded.