Lovemore Zigara and Faith Mabuto Midlands Reporters
FRESH produce and clothing worth thousands of dollars went up in smoke in the wee hours of Friday after 22 vending stalls were reduced to ashes by a fire at Gweru’s Kudzanai Bus Terminus.

Witnesses said a 10kg gas cylinder exploded and fuelled the flames.

The 22 informal traders told The Chronicle their dreams were shattered after their investments were burnt to ashes in the fire, which is said to have started at around 1AM.

The Gweru Fire Services Department put the blaze out before it could spread to other stalls.

The inferno extensively damaged some of the farm produce and clothes which were left in the stalls for safe keeping under the watch of security guards.

Gweru City Council’s chief fire officer, Emmanuel Musemwa, said he suspected the fire could have started from a brazier that the security guards were using to warm themselves.

“I can confirm that 22 vending stalls at Kudzanai Bus Terminus were burnt today at around 01:23 AM. By 2:28AM we had managed to put out the fire,” he said.

“We suspect that some security guards who were employed by the vendors to protect their goods might have felt cold and used naked fire to warm themselves up. We suspect that the fire caught on one of the centre stalls and spread to the rest.”

Musemwa said the department was still to ascertain the value of the goods lost in the fire.

He said the PVC sheets that were used by the vendors to cover their stalls caused the fire to spread quickly.

“We found a 10kg gas cylinder and we suspect that it compounded the fire. Fortunately no one was hurt. It took us five minutes from the time we received the call to get to the scene,” Musemwa said.

He urged vendors to desist from warming themselves using wood heaters within the confines of the stalls.

When The Chronicle arrived at the scene, the dejected informal traders could be seen pondering their next move after their wares were razed down by the fire.

Some of them were shedding tears saying the fire had destroyed their only source of income.

“I’ve nothing left after the fire. I had bought new stock yesterday comprising cabbages, tomatoes and about 500 pockets of potatoes. Everything has been gutted by fire and I’ve nothing to fall back on,” said a visibly distraught vendor, Alfred Suzane.

Another vendor, Onwell Viriri said all the 10 boxes of eggs he had ordered with 12 crates in each box had been reduced to ashes by the fire.

Another vendor said: “This is a huge loss to me and my family because we had borrowed the money we used to buy the clothes and shoes for resale at my stall. We normally leave our things in the stalls guarded by the security guards and we’re sad that they could’ve caused the fire.”

On Tuesday, an inferno razed the Glen View Home Industry Complex in Harare destroying property worth millions of dollars belonging to over 6,000 informal traders.

 

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