Huge Fire Engulfs South Africa’s Parliament House
In the South African city of Cape Town, a massive fire has engulfed the Houses of Parliament.
A plume of black smoke fills the sky, with immense flames erupting from the building’s roof, according to video footage.
Hundreds of firefighters are battling the blaze, which has yet to be determined as to what sparked it.
It comes just hours after Archbishop Desmond Tutu was laid to rest at St George’s Cathedral, close to Parliament.
The local authorities first stated that the roof area had taken fire, as well as the National Assembly building.
The fire in the Chamber of the Council of Provinces (the parliament’s upper house) had been put out, but the National Assembly building was still on fire, according to Minister of Public Works Patricia de Lille:
Due to the holidays, the parliament is currently not in session.
The Houses of Parliament in Cape Town are divided into three sections, the first of which was built in 1884. The National Assembly is housed in the newest sections, which were built in the 1920s and 1980s.
A fire devastated a section of the University of Cape Town’s library last year, destroying a rare collection of African records.
Source: BBC
Abeeb Lekan Sodiq is a Managing Editor & Writer at theafricandream.net. He is as well a Graphics Designer and also known as Arakunrin Lekan.
