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 the new council chambers.
It is making serious moves to acquire the 99-year-old abandoned East London Post Office building in Oxford Street.
Mayor Princess Faku confirmed at the weekend that they had initiated talks with the public works department to hand over the building, to be under the metro’s control.
The plan is to establish a proper state-of-the-art permanent council chamber, possibly to be the new metro political headquarters, away from the 127-year old city hall.
BCM council meetings have, over the years, been hosted in a makeshift chamber at the city hall.
Should the dream to acquire the post office building become a reality, the city’s human settlements department could also be housed there, Faku said, saving ratepayers millions of rand in rent for privately-owned premises it is now leasing.
The aim is also to rescue the heritage building in the city centre from further deterioration and collapse, illegal occupation by vagrants and being used as a crime den.
Faku revealed that the city was also looking into acquiring control of the now vandalised and dilapidated post office in Qonce, one of the flagship landmarks in the area and now a shadow of its former self, for the establishment of a possible artists’ retreat centre.
Faku was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting held by public works MEC Siphokazi Lusithi with various mayors from the province at the East London Golf Club on Friday.
“We appreciate this engagement with the MEC of public works because there are a lot of dilapidated buildings belonging to provincial and national public works in the city, especially in the Qonce area,” she said.
“We’ve made a proposal to the department that we want to take over that post office in [Qonce] and develop it into a place where we can put in SMMEs [small and medium enterprises] that are going to be doing fashion design products, which they can showcase in that building.
“We have also made a proposal to the MEC to say that in Oxford Street there is this big post office that we can utilise as council chambers and also as offices for the human settlements department, if it could be given to us.”
Because the national public works department is not attending to some of its properties in our cities, many are vandalised, and water use is abused, resulting in huge water bills, which remain unpaid
— Princess Faku, BCM mayor
Construction of the main East London Post Office, located at the corner of Oxford and North Streets, started nearly 100 years ago, with its foundation stone laid on September 18 1926.
Faku said there were many other properties around BCM that were owned by the national government and had been left in a state of ruin, attracting huge municipal bills in the process.
“Because the national public works department is not attending to some of its properties in our cities, many are vandalised, and water use is abused, resulting in huge water bills, which remain unpaid.
“This is what is creating crime in our cities, because some cases of crime, including gender-based violence, are happening in these deserted buildings,” she said.
She said she had also spoken to the deputy minister of communications, Mondli Gungubele, “because that function of post offices is under his directorate”.
“He was supposed to come back to me. We’re still waiting for a response with regard to that.”
Asked why they would seek to move away from the city hall, Faku said, “Remember, we don’t have proper council chambers in the city hall, but we are using the city hall when we have to meet for council.
“If you look at other metro municipalities, they’ve got advanced council chambers, with proper technology, you know, proper seating arrangements, and if you can’t [understand] isiXhosa or English, there are electronic translators. We need that as a city,” she said.
Faku conceded that the plan to transfer ownership of the facilities to the city could take a while, saying, however, “you can’t really invest in a property if it’s not fully, fully transferred to the municipality”.
“We are hoping that the national government can listen to our plea, because our cities are sometimes becoming ghost towns because of properties that are neglected, abandoned and vandalised, most of which belong to public works,” she said.
Lusithi’s spokesperson, Siyabonga Mdodi, on Monday confirmed engagements between the MEC and Faku over the two post office buildings.
While Faku said the post offices fell under public works and that she had asked Lusithi to take up the matter with minister Dean Macpherson, the minister’s spokesperson, James de Villiers, referred the Dispatch to the South African Post Office (SAPO) services, which he said were the actual custodians of such buildings.
However, Sapo could not be reached on Monday.
Late in 2025, it was reported that the East London City Hall was set to undergo refurbishments aimed at preserving its heritage while improving its structural integrity.
The renovations were to focus on essential maintenance, including roof repairs.
At the time, the DA painted a grim picture of the city hall’s current state.
It noted plaster had fallen off the walls in many areas, exposing internal bricks, while roof and guttering problems had caused dampness in ceilings and walls.
Floors were damaged, paint was bubbling, doors were broken, carpets were stained and toilets were in disrepair.
At the time, DA councillor Sue Bentley highlighted the challenges faced by those who worked in the building.
“The city hall houses the offices of the mayor, chief whip and speaker, with support staff, and in heavy rain their offices get wet.
“This means they remain damp and there is some mould growth. It is not a healthy environment to work in,” she said.
If managed correctly, it could mean a substantial saving on rental currently being paid for departments occupying private accommodation
— Geoff Walton, DA councillor
On Monday, DA councillor Geoff Walton welcomed plans to move the council chambers to the old post office building.
“We are unaware of this initiative, and it may make sense to utilise the old post office building, which is being vandalised and falling into disrepair.
“If managed correctly, it could mean a substantial saving on rental currently being paid for departments occupying private accommodation.
“The total cost of such a proposed takeover and renovation, however, needs to be fully costed so that a cost benefit can be established,” Walton said.
UDM councillor Anele Skoti said his party “supports this move as a redirection that will help to minimise the ongoing vandalism that has taken place at some of these buildings which had been hijacked and used for pushing crime, selling drugs and even prostitution”.
EFF councillor Mziyanda Hlekiso said the envisaged BCM takeover of the two post offices and other dilapidated national government buildings was a move in the right direction.
Gungubele could not be reached for comment on Monday.
Daily Dispatch
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