The Parliament of South Africa caught fire early Sunday morning in Cape Town and burned for several hours, damaging both houses of the national legislature, with no cause yet determined, according to local news reports.
The colorful parliamentary compound is located in the heart of Cape Town, alongside the centuries-old Company Gardens, at the feet of Table Mountain. Wildfires are common in the summer months, but there was no known blaze in the area prior to the fire in the complex.
Smoke billows from the roof of a building at the South African Parliament precinct in Cape Town on January 2, 2022, during a fire incident. – A major fire broke out in the South African parliament building in Cape Town on January 2, 2022. Firefighters were present at the building as large flames and a huge column of smoke were seen at around 0530 GMT. (Photo by RODGER BOSCH / AFP) (Photo by RODGER BOSCH/AFP via Getty Images)
Both the National Assembly, which is the main legislative chamber, and the National Council of Provinces, which is a largely symbolic assembly modeled after the U.S. Senate but without the same effective powers, were damaged in the fire.
Fire crews at the Houses of Parliament, fight a fire in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. Firefighters have been deployed and the cause is unknown. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
Local news outlet Independent Online reported an update from parliamentary and national government officials:
Parliament’s presiding officers have urged all relevant authorities to “leave no stone unturned”, in establishing the cause of the fire that devastated the Parliamentary Precinct.
In a statement released on Sunday, Parliament confirmed the breakout of a fire. The cause has not yet been established but investigations are under way to determine what started the blaze.
The fire damaged the Old Assembly and the National Assembly wings of the buildings of Parliament, which house the chambers of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces.
The fire has been contained in the old wing, but firefighters are still trying to control the fire in the new wing, where the fire has damaged the National Assembly Chamber.
The buildings date to the late nineteenth century, and were built after Queen Victoria granted permission for the Cape Colony to open its own parliament. Over the years, it has undergone many physical and political changes, including a tricameral legislature in the 1980s that represented white, mixed-race, and Indian South Africans, but excluded black South Africans.
Firemen spray water on flames erupting from a building at South Africa’s Parliament in Cape Town Sunday Jan. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Today, the parliamentary complex is a symbol of South Africa’s multi-racial democracy, launched after the 1994 elections. The annual State of the Nation speech by the country’s president often features legislators in traditional African garb.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, centre, addresses the press after visiting Parliament, in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. The country’s minister of public works and infrastructure said Sunday’s fire started on the third floor of a building that houses offices and spread to the National Assembly building, where South Africa’s Parliament sits. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
The parliamentary fire is only the latest mishap for South Africa, which has suffered severely from the coronavirus pandemic, and has endured massive power outages in recent years, as well as economic recession and political corruption.
Last year, a fire that began among homeless people living on the mountain reached the University of Cape Town’s library, damaging several buildings and destroying a priceless collection of African literature and historical documents.
January 2 is traditionally celebrated in Cape Town as the Tweede Nuewe Jaar, or second New Year, with colorful minstrel parades through the city. This festival has been canceled for the second straight year because of the ongoing pandemic.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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