National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula says there is more than meets the eye in the fire that has totally destroyed the National Assembly building.
The Speaker says the incident is bigger than just the single homeless person who has been arrested.
Addressing the media outside Parliament late Monday night she said they will await the report from the experts but said she is not convinced that this is an innocent incident.
The situation at Parliament looks much better than it did an hour ago. Still a few flames, but much smaller compared to earlier. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/FwHVVzKmSQ
— Abra Barbier (@BarbierAbra) January 3, 2022
Since Sunday when the fire broke out, Parliament and government have held onto the line that we should wait for the outcome of the investigation into the causes.
But now the Speaker has abandoned that narrative.
She feels strongly that there are forces of darkness at work here.
Mapisa-Nqakula is a former chairperson of the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence and a former Minister of Defence.
One would expect that her suspicions are not those of an emotional head of an institution but are based on some knowledge of security matters.
So one should take her seriously when she says there is more than meets the eye.
Does she think there is a connection between the fire and the attempts to burn the country down in July?
Mapisa-Nqakula responding to a question about whether this fire can be connected to the July violence. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/3gg7G6SeJ5
— Abra Barbier (@BarbierAbra) January 3, 2022
She emphasises however that despite her own suspisions, she will allow those who specialise in investigating these matters to guide her:
It’s still not clear to say what has been destroyed and what has been salvaged. Mapisa-Nqakula says she is not as optimistic as she was previously. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/6b36z6JqKq
— Abra Barbier (@BarbierAbra) January 3, 2022