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Mashudu Netsianda

Ms Cynthia Ngwenya, a woman in her early 30s, quietly sits on a stackable polypropylene chair.

There is an assortment of grocery items in front of her.

Her right hand rests on her knee, her chin buried in the palm.

She is deep in thought and fairly distressed as evidenced by a sullen expression on her face.

A story of sorrow is written all over Ms Ngwenya’s face as she recounts her ordeal to The Chronicle news crew, which had visited Pumula East Shopping Centre, one of the many business centres that were looted and burnt down by hooligans during the recent violent protests.

Behind her lies charred remains of shops with cracked walls caused by fire.

At Choppies Supermarket, one of the worst affected buildings, it seems everything was burnt down.

Glass pieces from broken window panes littered the floors and the zinc roofing sheets lay blackened and twisted on the ground.

For Ms Ngwenya, the picture of billowing black smoke and the orange flames blowing out of the windows of her rented shop, will remain an unforgettable grotesque image.

Ms Ngwenya, one of the few women entrepreneurs in the suburb, is among Bulawayo business people now counting losses after their shops were looted and subsequently burnt down by hooligans.

This followed three days of violent protests two weeks ago during a stay away called by the opposition MDC-Alliance and ZCTU which left a trail of destruction and cost the economy millions of dollars.

“I am a young woman entrepreneur who had just found my feet in the business world, but sadly people came to my small shop and looted everything. I am now selling from the shop veranda because the shop was destroyed and it requires lots of money to repair the damage,” she said.

The emotionally drained Ms Ngwenya said the entire building, which houses her shop, her only source of livelihood, was burnt to ashes while she watched helplessly across the street.

“The entire building was burnt to ashes because the firefighters from the Bulawayo Fire Station could not access the western suburbs, which had been turned into no go areas by the protesters.

“It was a grotesque picture as flames engulfed my shop from all sides and knowing that I could not do anything to save the situation, made it even more painful. I saw flames blowing out of the windows followed by a thick cloud of smoke and I could feel the radiating heat on my face from right across the street,” she said with tears streaming down her cheeks.

“There was fire everywhere, the roof was on fire, the doors and windows were on fire. In fact, the fire was even coming out of the entire building through various openings, looking like a fire-breathing dragon was inside the house. The entire building was burnt down within a few hours.”

Choppies Supermarkets in the western suburbs were the worst affected.

Looters burnt down the buildings to ashes.

Choppies Supermarkets’ operations manager Mr Athul Mohan said eights shops where looted and burnt down in Bulawayo, which was the epicentre of the violent protests.

“We lost stock worth $2,5 million to looters and the value of our infrastructure which was destroyed during the protests is about $6,5 million and it was quite a big investment. Our shops in Entumbane, Lobengula, Pumula East and Luveve were burnt down and everything was looted including the money in the tills,” he said.

At Belly Pots meats, a subsidiary of Bulateke Milling Company, the owner, Mr Hendrick Boshoff said beef and 40 tonnes of mealie meal including other accessories such as laptops, compressors and generators all valued at $100 000 were looted by protesters.

“I was on a business trip in Mozambique when my staff contacted me about the lootings and I had to return home. The looters broke the door in the main entrance to gain entry and looted virtually anything they could lay their hands on including kitchen utensils and dish towels in addition to six full beef carcasses, mealie meal and other assets of value,” he said.

Ms Sothini Dube who operates SD Supermarket in Luveve said: “I was at my home in Emganwini when one of my workers alerted me about the lootings at the shop. My shop was fully stocked and the mob came and looted grocery items worth $20 000 after destroying the window panes and burglar bars to access the premises.”

Ms Dube is now struggling to raise money to repair the damages and has resorted to selling her wares from her car.

Ms Plaxedes Nyoni, a manager at Cover Supermarket in Emakhandeni said although residents managed to prevent looters from burning down the building, they lost all their stock.

“We are grateful, protesters only destroyed the window and looted the groceries, but local residents fought back and prevented them from burning the building. We will simply repair the damages and restock and it will certainly take time for us to recover financially,” she said.

In the areas visited by The Chronicle news crew, the ruins were still smoking and the faintest glow of embers could be seen as we manoeuvred around the burnt structures.

There were ugly scenes in the western suburbs, which had literally been turned into a war zone as hooligans, mostly marauding youths, went on rampage demanding that everyone join them.

They barricaded streets using drums, trolleys, burning tyres and stones forcing police to fire tear gas.

Shops in Central Business District were forced to close as parents rushed to schools to pick up their children as the violent protests intensified in he western suburbs.

In Tshabalala suburb protestors stoned Tshabalala Housing Office and Clinic and looted shops.

They also went to a house of Zanu-PF Bulawayo provincial chairperson for the women’s league Cde Eva Bitu in Sizinda and burnt three cars at her home, destroyed precast all and broke windows.

Cde Bitu had to flee to a neighbour’s house after the protesters started throwing stones and threatening to burn her house.

In Bulawayo’s CBD, some youths moved around throwing stones, coercing people to go home and police responded by firing teargas. Some workers were forced to stay at home as public transporters joined the “shutdown” by parking their vehicles.

During the protests, rogue elements stoned a police officer, Constable Alexio Maune who died the following day from injuries sustained.

The late cop is one of the six people who lost their lives during the protests that took place in most cities and towns.

Many of the protesters have since been arrested and some of them have since been jailed for looting and destroying property.

Industry and Commerce Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu has said hundreds of people lost their jobs as a result of the violent protests with Bulawayo companies being the worst affected.

He said the terror attacks, organised by the MDC Alliance and civil society groups aligned to it, defeat efforts by Government and industries to revive the economy.

Industrialists said the economy could have lost business amounting to $800 million over the three-day forced shut-down.

Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) president Mr Sifelani Jabangwe, said companies and individuals who lost their properties to the marauding demonstrators have been plunged into serious financial challenges since insurance firms do not compensate anything destroyed during riots.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa who scheduled to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland after his tour of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, was forced to cancel the trip to attend to the economic situation back home.

“In light of the economic situation, I will be returning home after a highly productive week of bilateral trade and investment meetings. We will be ably represented in Davos by Minister of Finance Mthuli Ncube. The first priority is to get Zimbabwe calm, stable and working again,” he said.

Industry and Commerce Minister Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu said Government will assist businesses in Bulawayo to restock following the widespread looting and destruction of shops during the violent protests.

— @mashnets