The African National Congress (ANC) caucus has rejected the offers of the Democratic Alliance-run City of Cape Town and Western Cape to provide facilities for the State of the Nation Address (SONA) and parliamentary sittings after a fire destroyed the National Assembly chamber and much of the Old Assembly wing.

After the fire, which broke in the early hours of Sunday, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, until November last year a MP himself, offered the Cape Town Council Chamber for sittings of the National Assembly, as well as the use of the Grand Parade and City Hall for SONA.

The ANC caucus met on Tuesday to discuss the fire.

"Caucus noted the highly opportunistic manner camouflaged as an act of generosity on the part of the DA-led Western Cape government to lobby for hosting SONA as a political ploy and that other avenues must be explored," read a statement from the caucus.

Hill-Lewis said the caucus' response was "sad" and the City genuinely wanted to help.

"This is a national tragedy. We genuinely want to help. We genuinely want to come together and do what we can to ensure Parliament continues," he added.

"We have this facilities available, free of charge, it has all the systems, security, voting systems- it is all there. If they think it should be an opportunity to divide rather than unite, it is really sad."

On Wednesday, Parliament confirmed SONA, the budget speech and other programmes would proceed as planned.

"Parliament will share further details about where and how these events will occur," read a statement from it.

The caucus also dismissed the notion of relocating Parliament to Tshwane.

"The ANC caucus has agreed that our focus as the ANC is to ensure that we wrestle out between those who are recommending the use of the facilities of the City of Cape Town [DA-led] and those who are pushing for the permanent relocation of Parliament to Tshwane."

The ANC caucus in the Western Cape legislature supported this pronouncement.

"Having the two seats of government, the administrative and the legislative seat, situated in Tshwane and Cape Town, respectively, is a big contribution to unity and nation-building.

"We do not need to build a new parliamentary precinct in Gauteng," said ANC leader in the Western Cape legislature Cameron Dugmore in a separate statement.

"This is clearly not a national priority. What is now needed is to establish what factors led to clear security lapses that contributed to the fire, and a plan to get the business of Parliament going, including arrangements for the State of the Nation Address."

The ANC parliamentary caucus also called on law enforcement agencies to "unearth if there was a co-ordinated plan that led to the destruction of Parliament".

"For its part, the ANC caucus will mobilise all efforts to ensure that we assist in the rebuilding efforts aimed at restoring the structural integrity of the seat of the legislature.

"Caucus notes that this frontal attack occurs a few months after the devastation of the July 2021 mayhem that caused massive destruction of lives and property costing the country billions of rand, untold misery and economic losses mostly in the provinces of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal."

The party also claimed it held Parliament in the "highest regard".

"Caucus has noted that since the dawn of democracy, it has become commonplace for the ANC to be attacked by opposition parties in Parliament. Today, not only is the ANC under siege, but Parliament the symbol and essence of the will of each and every South African - is under attack.

"Consistent with its principles, meanwhile the ANC has continued to radiate the highest regard to Parliament and the diversity of constituencies whose aspirations are represented in it from across all of South Africa."