Chronicle Editor
Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
CLOSE to two dozen people are lucky to be alive after a fire razed through a building where they were attending a first aid training workshop in Tsholotsho.
Property including computers and laptops, furniture, school textbooks, Covid-19 personal protective equipment such as sanitisers, all estimated to be worth thousands of dollars was destroyed when a Better Schools Programme of Zimbabwe (BSPZ) building caught fire last week on Wednesday.
The building was built and donated by Plan International for use by Tsholotsho District for educational programmes under the BSPZ. It was commissioned in 2002.
Most learning material for the district was kept at the building before being distributed to beneficiaries and most organisations conducted workshops at the hall within the building which had a number of offices and store rooms.
It is suspected that the fire may have been caused by an electric fault.
Some parts of Tsholotsho had no electricity since Tuesday and when power was restored the following day, there were some sparks leading to the building catching fire.
Tsholotsho District Development Co-ordinator Mr Aaron Gono confirmed the incident which he said was a sad development for the district.
“We attended to the fire incident and we suspect that it may have been caused by an electric fault as there was no electricity for the past two days and when it was restored it was continuously tripping,” he said.
“The whole building especially the roof was destroyed and we managed to save the walls with the help of the community who used buckets and drums of water to put out the fire.
It was too late to salvage what was inside because there were books and sanitisers which quickly caught fire.
We also thank Tsholotsho District Hospital and a community member who brought water bowsers.”
The roof was completely destroyed as the asbestos caved in.
There were about 15 people attending the training and others working in different offices, sources told Chronicle.
Mr Gono said people who were in the building escaped with no injuries.
“No one was affected.
There were some people who were attending a workshop conducted by Red Cross on first aid training and they helped remove some of the furniture on the other end before the fire could spread,” said Mr Gono. — @ncubeleon
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