Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. By James Muonwa, Mashonaland West Correspondent – INFORMAL business operators housed at Super Bake Shopping Mall in Karoi Tuesday evening lost merchandise worth thousands of dollars after a raging fire gutted the shopping complex.
The inferno, which started after shops had closed at 3 pm, is suspected to have been caused by an electrical fault in one of the cubicles.
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) operators at the complex, believe an electrical fault sparked the inferno at around 4 pm when most people had closed shop in compliance of Covid-19 lockdown regulations.
There was pandemonium as passersby joined hands with shop owners in trying to put out the fire and save property from being destroyed.
Business owners, with help from their employees and passersby, braved the fire and managed to salvage some wares, but most valuable property such as solar panels, TV sets, generators, and clothing had already gone up in smoke.
The incident has brought to the fore the lack of disaster preparedness of the local authority, which does not have a functional fire tender.
Karoi council chairperson, councillor Abel Matsika conceded the local authority was currently incapacitated to deal with fire emergencies.
“There was a fire which broke out, but unfortunately our fire tender is down. The town secretary is actually in the process of procuring the spares. We tried calling Chinhoyi for support but theirs is also down,” he told NewZimbabwe.com.
“Rescue efforts entailed using water bowsers as we tried getting Kariba Municipality to assist while monitoring if the blaze was spreading to adjacent buildings. We reacted according to our capacity. It’s unfortunate for those who lost their wares. It’s a very sad development,” said Matsika.
The district Civil Protection Unit (CPU) is expected to engage the affected SME operators in order to map the way forward, he added.
