Floyd Shivambu says Ramaphosa ‘irrationally praised’ City of Cape Town for its response to parliament fire

EFF MP Floyd Shivambu has taken aim at President Cyril Ramaphosa for praising the City of Cape Town's response to the fire that broke out at parliament on Sunday. 

Taking to social media, Shivambu implied the extent of the damage caused by the fire contradicted remarks made by the president about the city being “one that works”.

Shivambu shared pictures of the National Assembly building that went up in flames and questioned whether the city had stopped the fire.

“Did Ramaphosa’s city and province that work stop the fire that burnt down this symbol of colonialism and apartheid? He just wanted an opportunity to irrationally praise his friends. Where’s the work of the city and province here? Let’s relocate parliament to one capital city!”

Ramaphosa ruffled some feathers when he told journalists on Sunday the swift response of City of Cape Town firefighters demonstrated “there are certain things that do work”.

“We may think that the wheels are coming off on everything, but the fact that they were here in a short space of time is something that we should be grateful for, that we do have one city that works. We do have a province that works and we do have a government that works. This is a demonstration of precisely that,” he said. 

Parliament issued a statement on Monday announcing the deployment of 34 firefighters after the blaze reignited at the National Assembly building.

“The almost two-day brave and courageous battle by firefighters against the flames that gutted various buildings of parliament suffered a setback when flames suddenly flared up from the roof of the building this afternoon.”

On Tuesday morning, the city said the fire had been contained.