Fire guts down Nkulumane home

Tafadzwa Chibukwa
A 15-YEAR-OLD Bulawayo girl was traumatised when a fire broke out while she was sleeping alone at home in Nkulumane 5  suburb.

Zinhle Mpofu lives with her aunt Ms Silibaziso Ncube (33) and her older sister. The fire broke out on Monday at midnight from a suspected electrical fault.Ms Ncube had visited their rural home in Kezi and the elder sister had gone out.

A bed, a wardrobe full of both siblings’ clothes, identification documents, a nurse aide certificate and other educational documents, a television set and a set of speakers, were among property destroyed by the fire.

When a Chronicle news crew arrived at the house yesterday, the girl was with her mother’s aunt Mrs Lucy Mthunzi (60) and her friends who were helping her clean up and clear the house. Mrs Mthunzi who lives in the neighbourhood said she rushed to the house as soon as she got word that the house was on fire.

“I rushed here when I was informed that the house was on fire this morning,” said Mrs Mthunzi.
She said the fire destroyed everything that was in the girls’room. Zinhle said she was sleeping in her room which is next to room where the fire started. She said she suspected the fire was caused by an electric fault.

Zinhle said she woke up to the smoke from the fire and at that time the fire had spread.
“When I woke up, there was a thick cloud of smoke in the house and I could not see anything, I ran out and called the neighbours who then came and tried to put out the fire but it was already too late. The electrical appliances inside the room were exploding. It was very scary,” said the girl, who appeared to be still shaken.

She said they had to wait for the Fire Brigade which later put out the fire. Last month, a Bulawayo family from Emakhandeni suburb was left stranded after losing property and national documents in a fire that gutted their house. – @Sagepapie14