This Victorian-era building, with its white columns and red bricks, is a symbol: all South Africans know the Parliament in Cape Town. It was there that in February 1990, Frederik de Klerk, the last white South African president, declared the end of the racist apartheid regime. However, for more than 24 hours, this building burned down. As if the National Assembly in Paris had been devoured by flames, with walls that crack under the effect of the heat, entire rooms with their walls of precious wood and their rows of leather armchairs that go out into the air. smoke.
The fire broke out around 5 a.m. on Sunday January 2 (2 a.m. in Paris). “The roof of the old building collapsed, nothing remains“according to Jean-Pierre Smith, head of the city’s security services, who spoke to reporters on Sunday. In the part dating from 1884, the firefighters had to back down in front of the flames: the fire was too intense and the danger too great On Monday, the temperature inside was still around 100 ° C, which made it difficult to determine the real extent of the damage.
In Cape Town South Africa Parliament Building on Fire. South African government building on fire pic.twitter.com/p7oZm68XNi
– Olivier (@ OJR1303) January 2, 2022
“Overwhelming to see our National Assembly like this”, laments in a tweet Brett Herron, one of the representatives of the Western Cape Province in Parliament, “a tragedy“for the former parliamentarian Mmusi Maimane. The 400 deputies were on vacation: there are no injuries.
The vast building is made up of three parts: a building housing the current National Assembly, another housing the upper house of Parliament called the National Council of Provinces, and the oldest part where parliamentarians previously met. In the oldest parts of the building, some 4,000 works of art (some date back to the 17th century century) are threatened. Among them, the Keiskamma tapestry, 120 meters long, which traces the history of the country from the first indigenous peoples to the democratic elections of 1994. On the other hand, according to the mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, the library and his unique collection of books was not affected.
But the whole country is saddened by this blow to one of the pillars of its democracy, a stone’s throw from Saint George’s Cathedral where, 24 hours earlier, the funeral of a national icon, the Nobel Prize, was being celebrated. of Peace Desmond Tutu. The presidents of the two chambers and members of the government – which is based in Pretoria – will meet on Monday to take stock of the scale of the disaster, made worse by the tons of water projected to extinguish the flames.
No certainty for the moment on the causes of this fire, even if the police arrested an individual at the scene. A 49-year-old man charged with breaking and entering and arson, who will appear in court tomorrow. But in a country where corruption and mismanagement of public affairs are daily concerns, this arrest does not prevent controversy. Because the dysfunctions are numerous.
Why did video surveillance not spot the intruder? Why didn’t the fire alarm go off sooner? A draft report points to the absence of smoke detectors in the attic of the old building.
According to the spokesperson for the main union of parliamentary employees, Themba Gubula, no security personnel were on site the night of the fire. Orders, he said, had been given not to work overtime during vacations, weekends or holidays, due to budget constraints.
Even President Cyril Ramaphosa who visited the site yesterday could not avoid these questions. “It seems that the automatic sprinkler system did not work as it should. We need to understand why this event happened and especially what measures will have to be taken in the future“.
Cyril Ramaphosa:
National Assembly Parliament wasn’t razed to ashes. Our key officials acted with speed
It shows that certain things do work, even if we may think that wheels are coming off on everything
We do have one city that works, a province that works & a govt that works pic.twitter.com/YPKimcnf8N
– Izwe Lethu (@LandNoli) January 3, 2022
The Head of State especially welcomed the rapid intervention of the firefighters: “Even though you might think that everything is going downhill, it shows that some things are working. It’s a city that works, a province that works and a government that works.“ Many Internet users doubt it. This fire is also the second in less than ten months. In March, an electrical fault had caused a fire to start in the oldest wing of the building, it had been quickly brought under control.
This fire will have no consequences on the functioning of the country: the city of Cape Town will lend the room of its municipal council so that parliamentarians can continue their legislative work. Their return is scheduled for January 15. Another venue must also be found for the annual State of the Nation address that the Head of State has planned to deliver in February.
But the places will obviously not be usable for several months. MEPs are overwhelmed by the event, even as South Africa rejoiced at having passed the peak of the Omicron wave and the assembly had just lifted the curfew in place for almost two years. In the rainbow nation, the year 2022 does not start auspiciously …