Cape Town - A total of 36 firefighters and six firefighting appliances are battling a fire in Parliament Avenue.
The City Fire and Rescue Services received the call at 05:03 am of a building alight in Parliament Avenue.
Roeland Street Fire was first on scene and with the assessment of the fire, more resources were called.
Roeland Street, Sea Point, Salt River, Brooklyn, Goodwood, Milnerton firefighting crews on scene.
Two Fire Safety Officers are on the scene.
“Fire is currently on the 3rd floor. Initial reports indicate it started in the office space and is spreading toward the gymnasium,” said the City of Cape Town Fire and Rescue service in a statement on Sunday.
According to Fire and Rescue Service, the roof area has caught alight and the National Assembly building is on fire.
The fire has not been contained and there are confirmed reports of cracks in some walls of the building.
There are a number of road closures in place.
There are road closures at Plein Street at Roeland as well as on Commercial and Barrack.
Roeland Street closed at Hope Street and St. John's Street is closed at Vrede Street. Commercial closed at Buitenkant Street.
South Africans took to Twitter and other social media to comment on the fire.
The National Parliament building is on Fire.
— Fr. Stephen Smuts 🇿🇦 (@StephenSmuts) January 2, 2022
Emergency Services are on scene.
Praying for the situation. pic.twitter.com/Pn3SMdZp3G
IOL