Briefing Paper 550 – Giving Up on Governance? by Mike Pothier
At the beginning of this year, a large part of Parliament burnt down. Whether or not arson was involved, it has been established that the sprinkler system was not working properly; that fire doors were unable to do their work due to being irregularly held open; and that the security staff who were supposed to be monitoring the closed-circuit television system were not doing so. In addition, the alarm sounded only after the fire brigade had already arrived.[i] According to some reports, the man who has been charged with starting the fire had been roaming around inside the building for 36 hours beforehand.
[i] https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/just-in-parliament-fire-report-finds-sprinkler-valve-was-not-serviced-for-several-years-and-was-closed-20220107; https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-01-05-cctv-cameras-not-monitored-as-alleged-arsonist-roamed-parliament-for-hours/