Online Reporter
Thupeyo Muleya-Beitbridge Bureau
Beitbridge traders are counting losses after a devastating fire reduced their wares to ashes at the Tshitaudze business centre market, commonly known as Speed, on Tuesday evening.
The fire, which broke out around 8pm, destroyed goods worth thousands of dollars, leaving many informal traders struggling to come to terms with the loss.
It is alleged that the inferno started from a stall that was being used to keep fuel by vendors operating at the business centre.
According to witnesses, one of the vendors tried to siphon petrol from a container while holding a lit cigarette, resulting in the fire.
The blaze then spread rapidly across two rows of market stalls, destroying property worth thousands of dollars.
However, authorities are still carrying out further investigations into the matter.
“This is devastating as most traders lost their entire stock and their major source of livelihood in that market that houses scores of our members,” said chairperson of the Beitbridge Informal Traders’ Association, Mr Mafios Macheka.
“We are gravely concerned about the issue of looting. Some of the traders lost their property after a mob that looted their wares on the pretext that they were helping them to evacuate the market before further fire damage”.
Beitbridge acting Town Clerk Mr Sathulani Moyo said 36 informal traders had their stalls razed to ashes. He said the local authority was working with the affected traders to ascertain the value of properties lost during the inferno.
Mr Moyo said after getting a distress call from residents, the local authority’s Fire Brigade reacted swiftly to contain the fire before it spread across the whole market.
Beitbridge West legislator Cde Thusani Ndou and the Matabeleland South Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Albert Nguluvhe, have since toured the area to offer support to the affected traders.
