City’s Fire Department’s report into fire at Parly does not replace forensic investigation: Hill-Lewis

City of Cape Town Mayor  Geordin Hill-Lewis says the City’s Fire Department’s report into Parliament is not a substitute for a full forensic investigation into the cause of the fire. He says the report which could be helpful has already been submitted to National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.

The report is accompanied by three other reports on various rescue service inspections on the Parliamentary precinct during 2019, 2020, and 2021  State of the Nation Address events.

In the report, which has been made public by the City of Cape Town,  Fire Station Commander JJ Williams says their report provides the observations of City fire safety officers who worked on the scene.

He also made additional findings. Some of his observations are that the National Assembly sprinkler valve was not serviced.

He says this was last serviced in 2017 while it has to be done every three years. He says if it was properly serviced the valve should have been locked with a chain in an open position and a block plan would have been available showing system layout.

According to the report,  lifts continued to operate despite a “break glass” unit at one lift being activated.  It says fire doors were locked in an open position using latches.

And roof smoke vents did activate at the National Assembly. Cape Town May Hill-Lewis explains the status of the report.

“The report is a useful insight into what the firefighters saw on the ground. But of course, it does not substitute a full professional forensic investigation into the causes of the fire and whether any systems failures exacerbated the spread of the fire. In the interest of full transparency and after having sent this to the Speaker of Parliament we are now releasing it publicly without any further comment in the hopes that it will be useful  and helpful in determining how this tragedy happened and what contributed to it.”

Parliament welcomes the report

Parliament says the report will help to enhance the investigations currently being conducted by the law enforcement agencies into the fire. Parliament’s Spokesperson Moloto Mothapo says the report is welcomed.

“It is a standard procedure that firefighters will report the work that they have done. The report is important in that it will form part of the ongoing investigation by the law enforcement agencies as well as be helpful to the internal investigation that will be conducted, so we must continue to wait and to afford the space for the Hawks as well as other investigative agencies to investigate what transpired here.”

Luluma Matya gives latest update on developments from Parliament:

Preliminary assessment of the damage concluded

Meanwhile, Public Works and Infrastructure Development Minister Patricia De Lille says her  Department in consultation with the Hawks and internal highly skilled professionals, structural, civil, and mechanical engineers have conducted and concluded their preliminary assessment of the damage caused by the fire.

In a statement, De Lille says on the basis of the preliminary visual inspections, there is evidence of severe structural damage to the slabs of the National Assembly Building. She says the slabs affected by the damage are the second, third, and fourth floors.

The Minister says the professional team recommended that the New National Assembly Building is unsafe, should be cordoned off and closed with immediate effect in order to restrict access.

She says the preliminary visuals assessment report and photos have been handed over to the Hawks but are not allowed to be shared, – as they form part of the evidence from the crime scene.

The Minister says the Treasury has also agreed to speed up the process of appointing an independent specialist team as soon as possible to do a further detailed assessment.

Parliament employees say they are traumatised by what happened: