Mthatha’s historic government building declared ‘unsafe’ — now it’s gutted by fire

The only good news from the fire that gutted several district government offices at the landmark Botha Sigcawu Building in Mthatha is that no one was seriously injured.

Aside from that, the blaze that broke out on Tuesday is nothing short of a disaster. Public records lost, various departments displaced, disruptions in service delivery and a clear lack of care for a historically significant building.

The Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs, and Tourism (DEDEAT), in a January response to questions about the state of government-occupied buildings, deemed the building “unsafe for occupation”.

DEDEAT MEC Nonkqubela Pieters said the Botha Sigcawu Building had “severe unresolved maintenance problems”.

Based on a health and safety assessment done between July and September 2025, she listed the following non-compliance issues:

• Severe unresolved maintenance problems necessitating remote work arrangements;
• Security breaches requiring urgent upgrades;
• Need to install more cameras as per specifications;
• Building condition deemed unsafe for occupation;
• Water storage tanks still awaiting Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) procurement; and
• No fire drills are possible due to the building condition, and non-coordination of drills by DPWI.

The Botha Sigcawu Building was at the top of a list of buildings Pieters flagged as having shortcomings, in response to questions from DA MPL Dr Vicky Knoetze about the condition of structures occupied by government regional offices.

The MEC further stated that the 11-storey building’s six fire extinguishers were last inspected in September 2025, well within the government’s annual requirement. There was, however, no follow-up inspection scheduled because the building had since been evacuated due to the safety concerns, and employees had been directed to work remotely.

According to a statement issued on Tuesday, MEC for Public Works Siphokazi Lusithi, along with several officials from her department, were to conduct a site visit at the gutted building to assess the extent of the damage.

“Government wishes to assure the community of the OR Tambo District that every effort is being made to put contingency measures in place to ensure that critical service delivery functions continue uninterrupted. Further details regarding temporary arrangements will be communicated as soon as they become available,” the statement said.

The Botha Sigcawu Building housed offices for 11 government departments serving the OR Tambo district municipality, including health, education and transport.

Attempts to reach Pieters or her communication officials were unsuccessful and the full extent of the damage to the building, and what crucial equipment or documentation each department lost, are still unknown.

The cause of the fire is unconfirmed.

DA MPL Dr Malcolm Figg said the fire raised urgent questions about other public buildings in the Eastern Cape and the government’s s ability to protect its employees and assets.

“What is extremely worrying is that this building, and several others, had been flagged by the Department of Public Works as unfit for human habitation, yet the department failed to act.”

He said the DA believed the incident could easily have been avoided. The party called for a full investigation to establish who should be held accountable.

“When a key state building is destroyed, several departments are displaced and critical infrastructure and records are lost to the flames, it is ordinary residents who bear the consequences – delayed services, uncertainty and further erosion of trust in the government’s ability to manage public infrastructure,” Figg said.

EFF MP Chumani Matiwane took to Facebook to lambast the OR Tambo district municipality for ignoring concerns about the state of Mthatha’s fire department.

“The [OR Tambo] delegation ignored a question I had raised during the [Standing Committee on Public Accounts] briefing on the functionality of the fire department in the district [...] By all indications, this fire could have been contained had the municipality invested in fire trucks.”

In a subsequent post, Matiwane said the Botha Sigcawu Building would probably become “an eyesore” and be overrun by vagrants and criminal elements, as there was no capacity to rebuild the structure.

The historic significance of the building dates back to when it was still occupied by its namesake, the former president of the erstwhile Transkei, and subsequently housed the Transkei military government after General Bantu Holomisa, now deputy minister of defence, staged a coup in 1987.

Speaking on CapeTalk Radio, Holomisa said he was filled with a “profound sense of concern and loss” when he learnt of the blaze at the Botha Sigcawu Building.

“This structure was a cornerstone of our country’s political and administrative history [...] If you went to the building, you would see electric wires hanging all over the show. Sometimes there was no water, no electricity,” he said.

He called on the DPWI to investigate what had happened, as concerns over the building had repeatedly been raised, and many felt maintenance “left much to be desired”. DM