Ten shocking revelations about parliament's devastating fire

The fire that gutted historical buildings in the parliamentary precinct in Cape Town in 2022 could have been prevented.

This is according to parliament secretary Xolile George, who was speaking on Wednesday during a briefing on the outcomes of an investigation into the blaze.

“What the report outlined was that the fire incident could have been prevented,” he said.

The investigation revealed the sad state of one of South Africa's most important national key points when the fire broke out after Zandile Mafe allegedly hopped the fence and entered the National Assembly building, setting curtains and cardboard alight.

Mafe has been in custody since then as the matter makes its way through the courts. However, after almost two years the investigation into the failings which led to the disaster were revealed.

Here are the shocking findings:

• No parliamentary protection officers were on duty that night because it was a public holiday.
• There was no-one monitoring the CCTV cameras.
• A number of CCTV cameras were not operating.
• The low perimeter fence was flagged as a weak security point in 2004 but was never fixed.
• No-one was patrolling the perimeter fence.
• There was no designated head of security for parliament.
• Smoke detectors were not functioning.
• Fire alarm panels, emergency notification systems, sprinkler systems and evacuation route planning were nonexistent.
• An emergency exit door was found to be malfunctioning.
• There was noncompliance with established building regulations.

“I'm sure we would all appreciate that these are historical buildings predating many years, centuries,” said George. “Our parliament has consistently not passed the test of full compliance about those matters.”

The fire burnt for three days before being completely extinguished and destroyed the lower house National Assembly chamber. The Development Bank of Southern Africa will lead the reconstruction project at an estimated cost of R2bn.

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