Johannesburg, Jan 4, (dpa/GNA) – The hours-long inferno in South Africa’s parliament building has destroyed the National Assembly chamber.
“The new national assembly that is completely destroyed from the bottom right to the top; it’s going to get a lot of rehabilitation to get it back to what it was,” fire officer Ian Schnetler told a news conference outside the building complex in Cape Town on Tuesday.
Some potential pockets of fire were still being observed in the wing, he said, so the ruins were expected to be handed over to investigators by late afternoon.
Other parts of the building were also badly damaged by flames, water and smoke, he said. “Roof structure has collapsed in certain areas,” fire officer Simon Abrahams said.
The blaze broke out on Sunday and was initially brought under control, but strong wind had fanned the flames and led to another flare-up Monday evening.
It was extinguished just after midnight, fire service spokesman Jermaine Carelse told broadcaster eNCA.
A 49-year-old man who was arrested inside the building appeared before a magistrate on Tuesday, charged with burglary, arson, theft and possessing explosives.
The man had been spotted on CCTV but was not checked, for reasons that remain unclear. He was later rescued from the fire.
A decision on whether to release him on bail has been adjourned until January 11.
“My client denies and rejects those charges, he denies vehemently those charges. Surely this poor man is made a scapegoat,” his lawyer Luvuyo Godla said after the hearing.
He said his client was an unemployed man from Mahikeng town who had moved to Cape Town six years ago, and lived in Khayelitsha township.
Meanwhile the cause of the fire remains unclear. Technical defects in the building complex, which consists of three parts, are also not ruled out.
According to initial estimates, the cost of rebuilding the historic building is likely to be enormous.
Among other things, the flames also destroyed numerous offices of members of parliament. Cape Town’s mayor has offered the 400 or so parliamentarians replacement rooms in the city hall and convention center.
Cape Town has been the seat of the South African parliament, consisting of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces, for more than a century.
The government, on the other hand, is located in Pretoria, some 1,400 kilometers away.
GNA