Fire rips through South Africa’s parliament, collapsing roof and gutting entire floors

Images from the scene showed flames shooting out of the top of one building, sending plumes of thick black smoke into the sky above parliament and into neighboring streets. The fire broke out on Sunday morning and more than 12 hours later, dozens of firefighters were still working to bring the blaze under control. No injuries or fatalities have been reported.South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said it appeared that a sprinkler system “did not work as it was supposed to” and that a person was being questioned by authorities in relation to the fire. Ramaphosa praised firefighters for working to “stop parliament from being razed to ashes” but said the fire had “devastated the parliamentary precinct and its contents and assets, including parliament’s historical treasures of heritage.”The fire broke out the day after anti-apartheid hero Desmond Tutu’s funeral was held at St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, not far from parliament. President Ramaphosa said Tutu would have been “devastated as well because [parliament] is a place that he not only supported, prayed for, and wanted to see as the repository of the democracy that he worked so hard for.”Public Works and Infrastructure minister Patricia de Lille earlier told a news conference outside parliament that there were no reports of injuries.”This is a very sad day for our democracy because parliament is the home of our democracy and parliament is also a strategic key point,” de Lille said.Smith said Sunday’s blaze was more serious than another fire that broke out at parliament in March 2021. In the March incident, the fire broke out at the Old Assembly and no one was injured. Eleanor Pickston contributed to this report.