Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces Amos Masondo has assured South Africans that they will take appropriate action following the fire that engulfed the Parliamentary precinct on Sunday.
He was speaking in Cape Town at a media briefing of the Presiding Officers of Parliament on recent developments relating to the fire.
Media briefing below:
Masondo and National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula are at Parliament to assess the extent of the damage, and to get a briefing from Public Works Minister Patricia de Lille and other stakeholders.
“We wish to assure you that the State of the Nation Address and the Budget Speech and other activities will proceed as planned. We have noted that a number of reports regarding the cause of this incident including those circulating in the social media space. What is even more worrying is that some of these statements have been attributed to former statements by the organisations.”
Those responsible for the fire will be hunted down
Meanwhile, National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has warned those responsible for the fire that all resources will be used to hunt them down. Mapisa-Nqakula says a large-scale investigation is under way.
“We also have forensic investigators who are working together with the police who will come out and indicate what the cause of the fire is and even how it was done and where it started. As things are now, the information we have, I mean we had a very informative session. The fire chief gave us a briefing. We just need to understand. We’re sitting here anxiously waiting to see what is destroyed and what has not been destroyed.”
