Parliament Fire: Suspect in Court on 5 Charges Including Arson

A 49-year-old suspect appeared at the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday morning in connection with the devastating fire that engulfed the South African Parliament on Sunday until late last night.

The suspect, Zandile Christmas Mafe from Khayelitsha, is facing five charges including housebreaking with intent to steal and theft, two counts of arson, possession of an explosive device and destruction of essential infrastructure, and is being charged under the National Key Point Act.

“The case has been postponed to 11 January for the investigators to confirm certain information which includes the residential address of the accused and whether he’s got assets,” the National Prosecuting Authority’s Eric Ntabazalila told journalists outside court.

Ntabazalila added that investigators have been unable to go to Parliament to assess the extent of damage, since the crime scene is still “active”.

Mafe’s lawyer Luvuyo Godla claims his client is being used as a “scapegoat” and denies that his client had an explosive when he was arrested. Eric Ntabazalila, spokesperson for the Western Cape Province’s National Prosecuting Authority, declined to say what kind of explosive device was found with Mafe.

Mafe was allegedly caught with suspected stolen property. After gaining unauthorised access to the parliamentary precinct he was spotted by members of the Protection and Security Services (PSS) when they saw the building was on fire.

The man’s motives are not yet known. The case is under investigation by the Hawks’ Crimes Against the State (CATS) team.

Meanwhile, Parliament has confirmed that the fire flare up that engulfed the roof of the National Assembly building on Monday afternoon has now been contained.

“The fight against the fire continued until midnight following yesterday afternoon’s re-emergence of the fire which was propelled by solid south-easterly winds and necessitated the deployment of heavy-duty aerial fire-fighting appliances to reinforce the existing capacity,” the statement read on Tuesday. (Witnesses saw an army helicopter hovering above the fire at around 8pm on Monday evening.)

The spokesperson, Moloto Mothapo, said further damage has been caused, with the building that houses offices of Members of Parliament and support staff, being completely gutted and the roof around where the flare-up occurred destroyed.

Parliament has commended the firefighters who displayed a “courageous” and “brave” fighting spirit to put down the fire by midnight.

Magistrate Zamekile Mbalo has ordered the suspect – Mafe – to be held in custody for seven days until 11 January for a bail hearing. Prosecutors say they will oppose bail. – SAnews.gov.za