11-storey historic Botha Sigcau Building in Mthatha gutted by fire, disrupting services

By Johnathan Paoli

A major fire has torn through the 11-storey iconic Botha Sigcau Building in Mthatha, leaving one of the region’s most important government hubs severely damaged and raising fears of widespread service delivery disruptions.

The blaze, which reportedly broke out on the fourth floor at about 7pm on Tuesday, engulfed the multi-storey building that houses more than 11 government departments, including health, education, agriculture and rural development, and other key provincial offices.

Mthatha fire services were dispatched to the scene and battled the blaze, but the cause of the fire remains unknown.

Reacting to the disaster, King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality mayor Goodman Nelani described the fire as a devastating loss for the municipality and the broader region.

“It is a sad day, and we have lost our landmark as the municipality. We have lost the major building which is hosting a lot of people that are working in this region, which will take government some time for us to stabilise the delivery from all the departments working in this building,” Nelani said.

He added that the destruction went beyond infrastructure, striking at the historical significance of the site.

“We have lost history. Something close to our heart. This building has been here since 1975. As a municipality we are concerned about the amount of work that needs to be done to address the situation and the service delivery that will be disrupted,” he said.

Nelani said preliminary information indicated the fire started on one of the upper floors before spreading rapidly.

“What we know so far is the fire started at the 4th floor, and moved up the building. The municipality responded early, despite being beyond the capacity we have as a municipality to respond,” he said.

He warned that the scale of the destruction would have