Government Services Continuing Despite Mthatha Fire, Says Mabuyane

The Botha Sigcau building is under police guard. It has not yet been declared safe for inspectors to enter.

The cause of a fire that destroyed much of Mthatha’s iconic Botha Sigcau building on 24 March is still under investigation.

The building has not yet been declared safe for inspectors to enter and investigate the cause or assess the damage. Some parts of the building are still smouldering.

The building used to be the headquarters for the Transkei government. It later became an administrative hub for the provincial Eastern Cape government.

It housed several government offices, including the deeds office, Home Affairs, and the education department.

Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane told GroundUp in an interview that government services were continuing, with workers being accommodated in other government buildings or working from home.

“It’s only office-bound services that have been affected, otherwise health and education services continue happening at schools and hospitals like normal,” he said.

As a medium-term solution, temporary offices will be set up, but this may take several months.

Hawks spokesperson warrant officer Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana said the fire was under investigation.

Siphokazi Lusithi, MEC of public works, infrastructure and human settlements, said that there have been “isolated incidents of smoke emanating from the Botha Sigcau Building”.

“Disaster management specialists have advised that this is due to residual unburnt material, as well as strong rooms that continue to smoulder.”

Strong rooms are fireproof vaults used for valuable documents.

Lusithi said specialised support may be requested to remove the “critical national assets” from the building, including the deeds archives and historical archives.

In a statement, the Eastern Cape Deeds Office said the office continues to operate from 40 Blakeway Road in Mthatha. All deed records had been digitised before the fire, the statement said. There were fewer than 100 deeds still being processed when the fire broke out. These would be recreated and re-lodged where necessary.

The King Sabata Dalindyebo municipality’s firefighting capacity has been brought into question after the fire raged through the building and firefighters battled to bring it under control.

Spokesperson Sonwabo Mampoza acknowledged that the fire department did not have sufficient capacity or equipment to fight fires in high-rise buildings such as Botha Sigcau.

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