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Villagers watch helplessly as fire rages through Mandla Manyathela’s supermarket at Tsholotsho Business Centre yesterday morning

Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
TSHOLOTSHO Football Club’s existence was yesterday left uncertain after a supermarket belonging to the club owner Mandla Manyathela was razed to the ground by fire and goods worth $300,000 destroyed.The Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, who is also the Zanu-PF candidate for Tsholotsho North in the upcoming by-elections, Jonathan Moyo, Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs Minister Cain Mathema and Tsholotsho South House of Assembly representative Zenzo Sibanda toured the site of the fire yesterday.

The fire is believed to have broken out just after 6AM and with no fire tenders in Tsholotsho, villagers looked helplessly as the inferno raged until the arrival of two fire tenders from Bulawayo at about 9:45AM, but by then, the damage had already been done.

The supermarket, located at the Tsholotsho Business Centre, was the nerve centre of the team and Manyathela said the team’s operations were now under serious threat.

He, however, remained confident that a solution for the survival of the team would be found.

“The team will obviously be affected because its sustenance came from this supermarket but we’ll see,” said Manyathela.

Narrating the events leading to the fire, Manyathela said there was no electricity on Tuesday night leading to the switching on of a generator.

“In the morning, staff at the butchery came first and tried to switch on the electricity and soon after that, the fire broke out,” said Manyathela. It was still not clear what caused the fire but an electrical fault is suspected.

Manyathela said the supermarket opened at 8AM while other shops and the butchery opened earlier.

“After the fire broke out, some people tried to extinguish it but I think the error was on the opening of the doors because by breaking the doors, they allowed oxygen to get in and in the process added a catalyst that proved to be more fuel to the raging fire but one can’t blame them as it was in good faith.”

Speaking just after touring the site last night, Sibanda said they were still in a state of shock and said it was high time Tsholotsho had its own fire station.

“No words can describe how as the Tsholotsho community we feel about what befell Mandla, coming at a time when he was also building a football team that put us not only on the national map but world map, and now this,” said Sibanda.

Chairman of the Tsholotsho Stadium construction committee, Sicelo Dube yesterday afternoon addressed players and urged them to remain strong and concentrate on the job at hand.

“Its morale shattering indeed what happened here today, we still can’t believe it. This was the team’s nerve centre but I believe the boys have to be strong and remain focused on the main job at hand, iziqholo azisoze zife (the club will not die),” said Dube.

Iziqholo zeZhwane take on FC Platinum at Mandava Stadium tomorrow afternoon in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League encounter.