Mthatha Public Building Fire

Statement by Dr Malcolm Figg MPL – DA Shadow MEC for Public Works:

The destruction of the Botha Sigcawu Building in Mthatha has raised urgent questions about the condition of public buildings in the Eastern Cape and the provincial government’s s ability to protect the people who work in them. The building housed several government departments and was severely damaged on Tuesday night, with the cause of the fire still unknown.

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.

The Democratic Alliance believes this tragedy could have been avoided had the Department simply done its job, and will call for a full investigation to ensure those responsible are held to account.

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.

Public Works MEC, Siphokazi Lusithi, cannot claim her Department was unaware of the risks.

In response to a parliamentary question from the DA’s Shadow MEC for Economic Development, Environmental Affairs, and Tourism, Dr Vicky Knoetze, DEDEAT confirmed that its O.R. Tambo District Office, located in the Botha Sigcawu Building, had been identified as operating in a building that was not fully compliant with occupational health and safety legislation.

DEDEAT MEC, Nonkqubela Pieters, reported severe, unresolved maintenance problems, security breaches, outstanding infrastructure issues, and, most alarmingly, a building condition deemed unsafe for occupation. The Department further stated that no fire drills were possible due to the building’s condition and the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure’s failure to coordinate drills.

MEC Pieters also noted that her Department issued formal IRFA notices to DPWI on 28 August 2025 and again on 27 October 2025, and that the response received from DPWI on 5 November 2025 was assessed as fundamentally inadequate.

DEDEAT also confirmed that the O.R. Tambo office had already been fully evacuated, with staff working remotely due to safety risks.

The DA will be submitting parliamentary questions to various departments to establish the full facts surrounding this incident, and will also be calling on the Chairperson of the Public Works Portfolio Committee to require the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure to report urgently to the Committee on the fire, the prior condition of the building, and the immediate implications for all departments that were housed there.

Government workers and the public should never be exposed to preventable risks in buildings that show clear signs of deterioration and non-compliance. Oversight cannot only begin after a structure has been gutted by fire.

The people of the Eastern Cape deserve leadership that protects public infrastructure, respects workers’ safety, and insists on accountability when warning signs are ignored.