Zandile Christmas Mafe the man suspected of starting a fire that gutted Parliament this month confessed to the crime after he was arrested inside the historic building.
He confessed to the prosecutors in court on Saturday.
Zandile Christmas Mafe, 49, was arrested after the fire broke out, while firefighters were still battling the blaze on 2 January.
He faces several charges, including terrorism, robbery and arson.
Mafe’s advocate, Dali Mpofu, Sc, has said that Mafe underwent mental health observation on 3 January and was diagnosed with “paranoid schizophrenia”.
The accused appeared in the Cape Town Regional Court on Saturday for a bail application. His case was postponed to 4 February.
According to an affidavit given to investigators immediately after his arrest and read out by the prosecution in court, Mafe said that it was “the right thing to put the Parliament on fire as at the moment it is not helping the people of South Africa”.
