{"id":53942,"date":"2026-03-26T05:35:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T05:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=53942"},"modified":"2026-03-26T05:35:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T05:35:15","slug":"eastern-cape-denies-botha-sigcau-building-mthatha-neglected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/03\/26\/eastern-cape-denies-botha-sigcau-building-mthatha-neglected\/","title":{"rendered":"Eastern Cape denies Botha Sigcau building in Mthatha neglected"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p><h2>Large parts of the structure were ravaged, raising concerns about the loss of critical land records and historical documents.<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Eastern Cape MEC for Public Works and Infrastructure and Human Settlements, Siphokazi Lusithi, denied claims by the DA that a fire at the historic eleven-storey Botha Sigcau Building in Mthatha was a result of neglect.<\/p>\n<p>The historic eleven-storey building, which was once the government\u2019s headquarters, was gutted by a massive blaze shortly after 6pm on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-fire\">Fire<\/h2>\n<p>Large parts of the structure were ravaged, raising concerns about the loss of critical land records and historical documents.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities are yet to determine the cause of the inferno and the cost of damage to the building.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-neglect\">Neglect<\/h3>\n<p>On Wednesday, DA Shadow MEC for Public Works Dr Malcolm Figg said the destruction of the Botha Sigcawu Building raised urgent questions about the condition of public buildings in the Eastern Cape and the provincial government\u2019s s ability to protect the people who work in them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe 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,\u201d Figg said.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-no-budget\">No budget<\/h3>\n<p>Figg said Lusithi cannot claim her department was unaware of the risks. But the MEC said a conditional assessment was conducted in the building and that the department has spent over R107 million on refurbishing it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can\u2019t be responsible for what the DA says, but\u2026 this is a 50-year-old building. That R107 million was done in consecutive years because we don\u2019t have a budget to complete what is required for the building in one financial year,\u201d Lusithi said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, it was done in a phased-in approach, and that\u2019s why even now there is work that was being done.\u00a0 It\u2019s simply not true that the government has not taken into account the nature or the condition of the building.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-cause-of-the-fire\">Cause of the fire<\/h3>\n<p>Lusithi said technical teams are expected to start their probe into the cause of the fire on Friday, adding that work will begin only once the building is declared safe.<\/p>\n<p>The Eastern Cape Government said it will continue to monitor the situation closely and will work with relevant stakeholders to assess the extent of the damage.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the organs of the state that occupy the building include the Health (district offices), Social Development, Sports and Recreation, Sassa, Police VIP Protection Services, Department of Education and the Registrar of the Deeds Office.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p>Add The Citizen as a Preferred Source on Google and follow us on Google News to see more of our trusted reporting in Google News and Top Stories.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Eastern #Cape #denies #Botha #Sigcau #building #Mthatha #neglected<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Large parts of the structure were ravaged, raising concerns about the loss of critical land records and historical documents. Eastern&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53942"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53944,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53942\/revisions\/53944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}