South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday that he "believes" someone is being held and questioned in connection with the fire at the parliament in Cape Town, promising a thorough investigation.
"We need to dig a lot further, a lot deeper into how this type of occurrence can happen and what steps we would need to take moving ahead," Ramaphosa said outside parliament to the media. He said, the fire started in the ancient assembly building's hall and subsequently spread to the lower chamber National Assembly.
He also praised key officials for their expertise, quickness, and resource mobilisation in responding to the fire, and stated Speaker of the National Assembly Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is driving to the scene from the Eastern Cape province because she was unable to book a flight.
The fire, which was reported to the Fire and Rescue Services at 5.03 a.m. but was later corrected to 6.12 a.m., has damaged both the Old Assembly Wing and the National Assembly Wing of the parliament buildings, which house the National Assembly and the upper chamber of the National Council of Provinces, according to a statement from the parliament.
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