A fire broke out Friday afternoon at the administration building of the office of Eastern Cape Premier, Phumulo Masualle, in Bhisho.
His spokesperson, Sonwabo Mbananga, said that staff were quickly evacuated and no injuries were reported.
He said that the fire was discovered around 3pm.
Mbananga said that fire-fighters had contained the blaze which gutted a garage situated adjacent to the building.
He also cautioned against speculation about any link between the Bhisho fire and one that broke out this morning at the Offices of Gauteng Premier, David Makhura.
"Well, it is co-incidence but whether we want to attach a connection between the two incidents is not for us to answer. But, obviously for sharing information with the citizens of the Eastern Cape and the public of South Africa that at this time we must give the space to our fire-fighters and our emergency services who are at the scene, for them, as part of their work, to conduct their investigation and for the cause of the fire to be identified," he said.
"It is alarming to us in terms of service delivery and the impact that it will have on that. That assessment will be conducted in the coming days as to what property, in relation to government programmes, in relation to information and systems, are affected as a result of this blaze," said Mbananga.
"But, at this time I will not be able to give that information. In the coming days we'll be able to give those indicators, but for now we are glad that none of our staffers were injured and the building itself, it’s unfortunate that part of it has been damaged," he said.
Mbananga said that Premier Phumullo Masualle is at the ANC's policy conference.
(Pic:Supplied)
