49-year-old suspect is ordinary citizen who gained access through back window, say Hawks

The person taken into custody in connection with the fire that broke out in parliament's National Assembly building is now confirmed as a suspect in the blaze.

"The person is now officially a suspect and will appear in court on Tuesday," Hawks spokesperson Brig Nomthandazo Mbambo told TimesLIVE.

The Hawks have taken control of the investigation into the fire that gutted the national assembly building.

Mbambo confirmed that the 49-year-old suspect was not a parliament employee and had gained access to the precinct through a back window.

"He is an ordinary citizen and he will be charged with housebreaking and theft, arson. He’ll also be charged under The National Key Point Act," she said.

Mbambo could not confirm an earlier statement by public works minister Patricia de Lille that the reason the building's fire-suppression sprinklers had not worked was because the valves had been closed.

De Lille was speaking after President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters outside parliament earlier on Sunday that the building's sprinkler system “did not work as it was supposed to”, adding that the cause of the fire was being investigated.

“We are still going into what caused the fire and it having started in the old assembly,” he said.

“But we need to go a lot deeper and what measures we need to take going forward.”

This is a developing story.

*In an earlier version of this story, the suspect's age was 51. This has been corrected following an update from the Hawks.

TimesLIVE