East Cape premier’s office damaged in fire

The fire was noticed at about 3pm when an employee saw smoke coming from the storage area where the Office of the Premier (OTP) keeps its archives. The main building was not affected. “It’s one of those things that on a day like this [the ANC policy conference] can be quite confusing,” Masualle told reporters.

JUST IN: Unconfirmed reports are coming through that the Office of the Eastern Cape premier Phumulo Masualle is on fire.

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“It does appear that the area in which the fire broke out was used for storing records . . . it’s early days to really speak [about] the extent of the damage.

“We have to do some investigation to get all the information and perhaps we can then tell what we really lost.”

The National Health and Allied Workers Union said they would request an investigation as the fire looked suspicious.

Chief operations officer Luvuyo Mabombo said they could not say how the fire had started as the area contained only documents. “The fire came as a shock and an inconvenience to us, but we are happy that no injuries have been reported,” he said.

“People were quickly evacuated from the building. The fire engine was summoned from East London and put out the fire before it could do much damage.”

When reporters arrived in Bhisho yesterday, staff members were standing at a fuel station close to the OTP buildings.

Police were already on the scene and no one was allowed to go into the premises. The area is being treated as a crime scene.

Employees and those working around the Bhisho precinct uploaded pictures on social media.

SAPS King William’s Town cluster commander Brigadier Luntu Ngubelanga said fire experts had been called to the scene.

He said police had yet to determine whether the fire had been caused intentionally or by an electric fault.