Daily Dispatch
Botha Sigcau Building had been declared unsafe
The Botha Sigcau Building in Mthatha — gutted by fire on Tuesday night — had previously been declared unsafe for occupation, with officials warning of serious safety failures, including the impossibility of conducting fire drills. The historic...
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Households brace for fuel price misery
Households and businesses are bracing for a severe cost shock as South Africa faces what is expected to be the largest fuel price increase on record next week. Latest projections from the Central Energy Fund point to a hike of R5.62 per litre for 95...
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Legal showdown threatens to halt high-stakes E Cape ANC conference
A last-minute court bid threatens to derail the high-stakes battle for control of the Eastern Cape ANC and throw this weekend’s provincial elective conference into disarray. In a further twist, ANC provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi late on...
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BCM’S libraries stand tall amid declining public services
Libraries in the Buffalo City Metro are emerging as some of the city’s most functional and accessible public assets, even as a lack of resources, security concerns and patchy operations affect services at some sites. These issues were brought into...
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Trashed, neglected amenities just days away from Easter weekend
Locked toilets, overgrown surroundings and used toilet paper scattered on the ground — this is the scene welcoming visitors and residents to busy local leisure spots this week. Bonza Bay Beach and the nearby Batting Bridge picnic site draw steady...
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Dairy farmer’s fury at state’s handling of disease outbreak
“Farmers are fighting to save their animals. Your department is still fighting paperwork.” Those are the words of Eastern Cape dairy farmer Edgar Brotherton, whose open letter to agriculture minister John Steenhuisen lays bare the devastating toll of...
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Taps run dry in large parts of metro
As the district swelters through a heatwave, residents across Kugompo City are enduring days — in some cases more than a week — without reliable water, forcing families to queue for tankers, rely on neighbours and consider using swimming pool water to...
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EC to roll out groundbreaking HIV prevention jab at 49 clinics
Thousands of Eastern Cape residents will soon be able to protect themselves against HIV with just two injections a year, as the provincial department of health begins rolling out a new long-acting prevention treatment aimed at reducing infections. The...
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R9bn boost to EC health, housing and education
The Eastern Cape government has committed more than R9bn towards public infrastructure projects, including upgrading schools, modernising hospitals and fixing roads. Delivering his budget speech in the Bhisho legislature on Friday, finance MEC...
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Fury over ANC man’s three-year ‘rent-free’ beachfront chalet stay
An Eastern Cape ANC councillor may find himself in hot water for allegedly living rentfree for the past three years in a beachfront chalet in Kugompo City. The chalet is situated in the Gonubie Caravan Park Resort, which is owned by the Buffalo City...
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Thousands object to name changes —‘but petitions don’t count’
Tens of thousands of objections have been lodged against plans to rename five Eastern Cape towns — but the South African Geographical Names Council says petitions and signature campaigns do not constitute formal objections. Sport, arts & culture...
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Eastern Cape intensifies fight against foot-and-mouth havoc
More than 90,000 cattle have been vaccinated in the Eastern Cape in a single week as authorities race to contain the highly contagious foot-andmouth disease (FMD), but some farmers say the rollout has yet to reach their herds. The outbreak has spread...
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Plan to convert old post office into council chambers
The 100-member Buffalo City Metro council, with its seat currently at the East London City Hall, could get a new home. The city is looking into acquiring an old, abandoned and slightly vandalised historic building in the city centre to possibly use as...
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IEC puts Faku, ANC under the microscope
Buffalo City Metro mayor Princess Faku and the Eastern Cape ANC are being investigated by the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) over allegations of misrepresentation and misuse of municipal resources for election purposes. They have strenuously denied...
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Fatal stabbing in teen fight triggers crackdown at Eastern Cape school
Authorities have announced random police searches, counselling programmes and intervention by community leaders at an Eastern Cape school after the fatal stabbing of a pupil during a fight linked to football rivalry. The measures were announced on...
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Abandoned Water World project set for R200m shot in the arm
The national government is set to inject an additional R200m into Buffalo City Metro’s troubled Water World Fun Park project, premier Oscar Mabuyane confirmed on Wednesday — despite more than R120m already spent on the stalled development. However,...
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Metro eyes homestays for World Cup rush
Buffalo City Metro mayor Princess Faku has called on the city’s homeowners to consider converting their homes to bedand-breakfast rentals to help meet accommodation demands ahead of the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup. Faku said the city’s accommodation...
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Eastern Cape looks to China to rescue motor industry
The Eastern Cape is turning to China in a high-stakes bid to secure the future of its automotive sector, as a R430m commercial vehicle investor prepares to establish operations at the East London Industrial Development Zone. The investment...
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Education a priority, with largest share of 2026/2027 budget
Finance minister Enoch Godongwana has placed education at the centre of the 2026/2027 medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF), with basic education emerging as a clear funding priority. For this MTEF, education (basic and higher departments) and...
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Move over, Black Mambas, here come the Wild Coast’s Green Griffons
Nine Eastern Cape women are doing a tough basic training course to become the first all-women squad of field rangers on the Wild Coast — and the first in the province. Based on the pioneering Black Mambas from the Greater Kruger National Park, the...
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Prepaid electricity sales disrupted by ‘cyber attack ’
Residents and businesses across several Eastern Cape municipalities, including Buffalo City, were unable to buy prepaid electricity over the weekend after a technical failure linked to an attempted cyber attack disrupted online vending systems. The...
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SCHOOL OF BROKEN DREAMS
Pupils at a dangerously dilapidated Eastern Cape high school lose at least two hours of precious time in the classroom each day because of limited space. With only seven classrooms available for 280 pupils, teachers at Lukhozi High School have little...
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New move to scrap Mdantsane’s apartheid-era ‘native units’
A long-running push to scrap Mdantsane’s apartheid-era “native unit” (NU) designations is back on the table, after the decision to officially rename East London to Kugompo City — along with changes to major roads, suburbs, a hospital and even the...
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Failing facilities threaten to sink metro’s winter games hosting bid
Buffalo City could lose out on hosting the Winter National School Sport Championships after national inspectors raised concerns about the state of sporting facilities during a site visit in East London this week. Officials from the national department...
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King Phalo Airport set for R450m lift-off
East London’s King Phalo Airport is set to undergo a R450m “modernisation” as part of a R22bn capital investment in airports across the country. The investment programme is being driven by Airports Company SA (Acsa). King Phalo Airport will celebrate...
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Private residence landlords accuse student leaders of extortion racket
Several landlords of private student accommodation across the Eastern Cape have alleged extortion by some student leaders, claiming they are being forced to pay monthly kickbacks to secure student placements in their residences. The landlords, who did...
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Games go on while BCM’S sports club facilities lie in ruins
The vandalised clubhouse at the United Cricket Club field in Buffalo Flats is the latest example of a pattern of decay and destruction that has plagued Buffalo City Metro’s public facilities for years. More than 200 primary school pupils competed at...
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SA to vaccinate 14-million cattle
President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that his government will vaccinate all the country’s cattle amid the biggest outbreak of foot-andmouth disease South Africa has experienced. Speaking during his State of the Nation Address on Thursday, Ramaphosa...
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Health must resume lump-sum payouts for medical negligence
The Eastern Cape department of health will in future have to resume paying the massive “once-and-for-all” lump sums it incurs as a result of medical negligence after the Supreme Court of Appeal on Wednesday ruled it must do so. At the centre of this...
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Kidd’s Beach private estate homeowners left high and dry
Despite paying their monthly bills, about 450 homeowners and businesses in a multimillion-rand property development in the Buffalo City Metro have gone nearly three months without a consistent water supply. Homeowners across the Kidd’s Beach private...
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Petition battle brews over East London’s new name
Two nonprofit organisations are hoping to obtain 8,000 signatures this week to challenge the renaming of East London to Kugompo City, which has been officially gazetted. The organisations are claiming no proper consultations were held despite numerous...
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Underfire BCM bosses sue to halt discipline
Three Buffalo City Metro administration bosses are taking the council to court to prevent it from taking disciplinary action against them over allegations of irregular procurement of temporary housing units during the Covid-19 pandemic. Six officials...
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Auction of BCM’S vehicles on hold — for now
Buffalo City Metro has managed to save part of its fleet of vehicles from going under the hammer just a week before they were set to be auctioned. On Thursday, the East London high court stymied moves by boxing promoter and former ANCYL hotshot Ayanda...
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Awaiting-trial prisoners slip through police custody gaps
Nearly half of the 167 awaitingtrial prisoners who have escaped from police custody in the Eastern Cape over the past four years are still at large — a situation experts and politicians warn is placing communities at serious risk. These figures...
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R900m shortfall sparks court battle as EC schools fight chronic underfunding
The Eastern Cape education department has shortchanged government schools out of billions of rands since 2020 and a civil society organisation and some schools based in Makhanda have had enough. The Makhanda Circle of Unity and school governing bodies...
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Probe flags 23 in R71m pool fiasco
Buffalo City Metro’s disciplinary board has recommended that action be taken against at least 23 current and former city officials in connection with the failed multimillion-rand Mdantsane swimming pool precinct. They are suspected of possible...
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The story of Kugompo: how a wave and a rock inspired EL's new name
The name Kugompo City, proposed as the new official name for East London, has roots that stretch back to the late 1800s. Bonisile Grey, who submitted the proposal, said Kugompo was the original name for the region, inspired by the sound of waves...
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Patients at risk at crumbling clinics
Healthcare facilities across the Buffalo City Metro and Chris Hani district are battling crumbling infrastructure, weak security and staff shortages that are undermining service delivery and putting the safety of patients at risk. The extent of the...
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Bye East London, hello Kugompo City
East London will officially become Kugompo City, while Graaff-reinet is to be renamed Robert Sobukwe Town. Sport, arts & culture minister Gayton Mckenzie has approved 21 more geographical name changes across SA. The changes, which follow nationwide...
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Admissions crisis at Eastern Cape universities
The future for many of the more than 44,000 Eastern Cape matriculants who achieved bachelor’s passes in their 2025 exams may not be at a university. The province’s four universities, and many others across SA, are struggling to keep up with the demand...
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Orcas chase great whites to EC waters
Great white sharks have migrated from Cape Town to the Eastern Cape coast, with high numbers reported in Chintsa Bay, researchers have found. Fifteen great whites were found in Chintsa Bay between January 17 and 19 by a fivemember team of Western Cape...
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Roads closed, buses roll in as Malema returns to court
East London roads have been cordoned off, with hundreds of EFF supporters from across the country shuttled to the city on Thursday, ahead of Julius Malema’s sentencing proceedings in the city’s regional court. Malema has been found guilty of charges...
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Unpaid hospital gas bills spark R360m lawsuit against state
The state faces a lawsuit from an essential national health service provider claiming R360m in unpaid invoices, some from eight years ago, adding to the departments’ troubles after the auditor-general recently flagged eight provinces for R24bn in...
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Pupils forced to compete for seats as overcrowding hits EC school
Pupils at Zameka Senior Secondary School in the Eastern Cape say getting a seat in class is on a first come, first served basis due to severe overcrowding. A Grade 11 pupil revealed that her class had 89 pupils in 2025, forcing some to stand or listen...
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Wind-fuelled fire rips through farmlands near Port Alfred
Driven by near gale-force winds, the speed and force of a fire that in 24 hours destroyed homes, vehicles and farmlands northeast of Port Alfred on Sunday and Monday, shocked even the most experienced firefighters. Two landowners and some staff lost...
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BCM against the ropes in sponsorship fallout
The Buffalo City Metro’s failure to honour a sponsorship agreement with a prominent Eastern Cape boxing promoter has come back to haunt the city — almost 20 municipal vehicles have been attached and may now be auctioned off. The vehicles were attached...
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SIU to investigate controversial Buffalo City beachfront projects
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is set to launch a full investigation into Buffalo City Metro’s controversial contracts involving the Leighandre “Baby Lee ” Jegels Recreational Park, popularly known as The Stoep, and the recently renovated Marina...
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Matric class of 2025 slightly off the pace
The matric class of 2025 in the Eastern Cape has fallen short of achieving the targeted 87% pass rate, recording a slight decline compared with last year’s record performance. The pass rate in the province dropped by 0.7 percentage points, from 84.9%...
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Department confident of smooth start to school year, despite concerns
It is all systems go for the reopening of schools this week, the Eastern Cape education department says. This is despite scepticism from some stakeholders who flagged a number of challenges they said would hamper the smooth transition into the new...
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Harrowing tales of child abuse and neglect in EC
In just six months in 2025, more than 1,600 vulnerable children in the Eastern Cape had to be moved from their homes and housed at various places of safety by the provincial government. They had been victims of rape and physical abuse, mostly at the...
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Drunk-driving arrests drive drop in festive road deaths
The Eastern Cape has recorded a huge decline in the number of serious vehicle accidents and deaths on the roads since the festive season began on December 1. Fatalities had plunged by 66 compared with the same period last year while the number of...
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Sunrise paddle turns into brush with sharks for teens
A peaceful early-morning paddle in the ocean near East London resulted in a frightening encounter for two 18-year-olds on Monday when their small boat was circled by two sharks, one of which came so close that its tail struck them as it swam away. The...
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Calls for action over spate of teen births in province
Out of 395 babies that made their grand entrance into the world on Christmas and New Year’s Day, 88 were delivered by teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19. A total of 187 babies were born on Christmas Day and on New Year’s Day, 208 mother welcomed...
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‘New’ R42m conference centre still unused — eight years on
Despite the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency’s (ECPTA) assurance that the state-of-theart Cape Morgan Conference Centre would be operational by the end of 2023, the multimillion-rand facility remains unused. “We thought some people from around...
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East London’s big dirty secret
Public toilets meant to serve thousands of residents and workers in the Buffalo City Metro are in such an appalling condition that some are being used as makeshift kitchens, while others are avoided entirely because of filth, safety risks and fears of...
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Mabuyane primed for move up the ranks
Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane has officially stated his interest in contesting one of the ANC’S top seven leadership positions. While the official lobbying season for the ANC national leadership race is yet to be opened, Mabuyane, who serves as...
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Chaos at Bhisho Hospital
Bhisho Hospital patients were forced to discharge themselves, some were sent to recover at home and others were moved to other hospitals amid chaos at the hospital aggravated by this week’s heavy storm, which left a trail of destruction in many...
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Mighty storm leaves trail of destruction in region
A storm swept across parts of the Amathole district and Buffalo City Metro on Tuesday, damaging electricity infrastructure, flattening homes and leaving dozens of families displaced. Strong winds, heavy rain and hail tore off rooftops, uprooted trees...
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From Mdantsane to the Springboks: Dumke remembered as trailblazer
Springbok Women blindside flanker and former Border Ladies captain Lusanda Dumke had high hopes of returning to the national team — but on Tuesday she lost her battle with cancer. The East London rugby sensation, who was named SA Rugby Women’s Player...
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Metro approves R20m to upgrade Buffalo Park Cricket Stadium
Buffalo City Metro has thrown its weight behind a bid to host the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup, with the council on Monday approving a R20m boost to upgrade the Buffalo Park Stadium. With millions of rands in economic spinoffs expected should the city...
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Bhisho frees up land for development
With hopes of boosting economic growth and creating job opportunities, the Eastern Cape government is looking to generate millions in profits as it prepares to lease more than 60 hectares, comprising 72 properties across the province. These properties...
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Musical brings burst of sunshine during challenging times
The beloved musical, Annie, began its run at the Guild Theatre on Thursday and will be on until December 21, delivering a message of hope, resilience and optimism at a moment when its themes feel urgently relevant. Backed by the award-winning Wela...
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Minister changes game as battle for Fish River enters new era
With rival investors fighting over invalid leases — and one staging an unauthorised sod-turning ceremony at the shuttered Fish River Resort — land affairs minister Mzwanele Nyhontso has moved to restore order. He has ushered in a new community trust...
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Whistleblower sparks inquiry into Frere irregularities
East London’s Frere Hospital is facing fresh scrutiny following allegations of irregular appointments, maladministration and financial misconduct — claims now being taken to the office of the public protector and parliament’s appropriations...
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Ebuhlanti ready for festive season after R31m upgrade
The long-awaited and controversial Marina Glen redevelopment project is finally complete, ending months of construction, delays and anticipation from East London residents. The leisure and recreation site located along the city’s beachfront, popularly...
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Iconic fashion brand Maxhosa set to move production to the ELIDZ
In a scoop for the East London IDZ, internationally recognised fashion house Maxhosa Africa is bringing its production and manufacturing unit there. The move, already in progress, will see the brand consolidate its base in East London, with plans for...
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Metro shines light on Qonce for festive kick-off
A festive spirit is lighting up Buffalo City Metro as the city gears up for popular annual switching on of the Christmas lights. This year, the event heads to the picturesque Botanical Gardens in Qonce on Saturday. BCM spokesperson Bongani Fuzile...
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Warning about water quality as vandals strike
With just days to go before the metro declares the holiday season open and welcomes visitors to the city, the Buffalo City Metro on Wednesday issued an urgent alert for residents in East London and Mdantsane to boil their tap water before drinking it....
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BATTLE FOR POWER
The next three days are going to determine the future of Princess Faku’s mayorship of Buffalo City, as her party in the region finally sits to elect new leadership. Faku is set to face strong contestation from a former ally and current senior manager...
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R4.9m golden handshake for ousted CEO
The Buffalo City Metro Development Agency forked out R4.95m in an out-ofcourt settlement to get rid of CEO Bulumko Nelana after the Makhanda high court repeatedly ruled against his dismissal and ordered he be reinstated. The court previously referred...
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Dust-up over BCM inspectors
Despite calls from its own staff and opposition political parties for the city to increase the number of its health and safety inspectors ahead of the festive season, Buffalo City Metro maintains that it has enough “fully capable” staff to do the...
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Abuse of funds exposed while rugby takes hit
While Eastern Cape Sports Confederation president Mzondeleli Qotoyi allegedly enjoyed meals, fuel and other benefits paid for from confederation funds, club rugby teams were left scrambling to cover their own travel and accommodation costs and prize...
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Fury greets BCM’S new tariff plan
Buffalo City Metro’s battle over electricity tariffs has reignited, with residents accusing the city of trying to rush a new “token” public participation process through even as a court battle over the legality of its “basic service” charges...
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