Fire caused a lot of damage to South Africa’s Parliament Building. There was a big fire at South Africa’s parliament building, which caused a lot of damage to a historic site in the middle of Cape Town. This is what happened:
An official in charge of safety and security in Cape Town says that when smoke started coming out of a part of the city’s building that was called the “Old Assembly,” the fire department was called right after 6am. This is the time that fires usually start in the city. Over the next few hours, more than 70 firefighters fought the fire.
It was the minister of public works who said that police took a 49-year-old man into custody so that they could question him. They said that the man was not a parliament employee and might have climbed through the back window to get into Parliament.
The fire started in the Old Assembly and spread to other parts of the parliamentary building that are used for work, like the offices and the gymnasium area. It completely destroyed the building and caused the roof to fall down, says a spokesman for Cape Town’s fire and rescue service.
In the National Assembly area, which was built in the 1920s, the ceiling fell down and the thick smoke made it dangerous for the firefighters.
The building complex is a heritage site in the heart of Cape Town. It is also the main working legislative site of the South African government.
A fire at the Old Assembly last March damaged a lot of places, including offices and committee rooms.
This is bad news, said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa when he spoke to the media.
A day after we said goodbye to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the president’s office said that this is “devastating,” because it comes just one day after that. Wake up and find out that Parliament has been destroyed. It’s a huge setback from what we were having fun with yesterday.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a charismatic cleric, died on December 26 at the age of 90. He won the prize in 1984 for his global campaign to end South Africa’s racist policies. He is also credited with coining the term “Rainbow Nation” to describe the optimism of South Africa’s transition to multiracial democracy. When did his funeral take place? It was on Saturday.
Ms. De Lille said that the sprinklers didn’t work because the water valves in the building had been manually turned off. Officials are trying to figure out why closed-circuit TV footage didn’t pick up on the presence of someone else.
When does the president give his annual state-of-the-nation address? Usually in February at the parliament. Mr. Ramaphosa is likely to speak at a different place soon.
During the holidays, security workers at the parliamentary precinct were told not to work extra hours because of budget constraints. Themba Gubula, a spokesman for the National Education, Health, and Allied Workers’ Union, which represents support-staff workers at the precinct, said this.
