Online Reporter
Emmanuel Kafe
A 15-roomed mansion at Blagdon Farm in Kadoma was on Thursday extensively damaged after a suspected electrical fault sparked a blaze.
The inferno consumed everything inside the house, including thousands of dollars in cash set aside for school fees, furniture, jewellery and vital documents such as approved architectural drawings for the proposed Maranatha Christian University.
Speaking to The Herald after the blaze, homeowner Dr Samuel Mudavanhu described the extent of the destruction.
“Yeah, the house was big. It was about 15 rooms and of those 15, 10 were fully furnished bedrooms with en-suites and everything there.
“All the beds, linen, everything, was burnt. Everything was burnt,” he said.
Dr Mudavanhu said the fire started shortly after power was restored following an outage earlier in the day.
“What happened yesterday (Thursday) is that we didn’t have power in the morning. Then electricity was restored around late afternoon. I am sure when it was restored, we don’t know really the strength of it, but I think it caused a short inside my house, which then caught fire,” he explained.
The house was unoccupied at the time, as the Mudavanhu family lives in Harare.
The blaze was first spotted by a gardener, who alerted security and farm workers.
Despite their efforts, the fire quickly spread.
The Kadoma Fire Brigade rushed to the scene and battled the flames, but nothing could be salvaged.
“They tried to quench the fire, but it was too much. They called the Kadoma Fire Brigade and they were very efficient.
“Unfortunately, they could not retrieve anything,” said Dr Mudavanhu, adding that the loss was not just personal, but institutional.
“Inside the house, there were architectural drawings of our university, jewellery approved by the council, and the fees that were collected here in Kadoma. All of it was lost.”
Dr Mudavanhu blamed the tragedy on recurring faults with the local power lines and criticised ZESA for failing to respond to earlier reports of burning cables.
“Three weeks ago, we had cables burning. Those aluminium cables were burning, and we called ZESA. They could not come on time. They only fixed it after about a month. And now my house is burnt,” he said.
Despite the loss, he commended the police and the fire brigade for their swift response and expressed hope that forensic investigations will confirm the cause of the fire.
Mashonaland West police spokesperson, Inspector Ian Kohwera said police are yet to establish the cause of the fire.
“We are still investigating the cause of the fire, once details are available, will update you,” he said.
