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Whinsley Masara, Chronicle Reporter
BULAWAYO’s Tabanchu Lodge that belonged to the late politician, Thenjiwe Lesabe, was reduced to ashes after a fire started by an employee burning garbage went out of control and destroyed 11 buildings and property running into thousands of dollars.
The lodge is said to be run by the late politician’s son, Nqobizitha Lesabe, who is based in the United Kingdom.
An employee’s decision to burn litter at the lodge triggered the disaster when he failed to control the fire.
An employee at the lodge, Phineas Masuku, told The Chronicle that the man who started the fire was earlier told not to do so by other workers as it was windy but did not heed their advice last week on Wednesday.
“At first we managed to put out the fire which was heading to our rooms and went back to our chores. Apparently he rekindled the fire and this time it was huge and wild and in no time it was all over the yard destroying a lot of thatched structures,” he said.
“We phoned the fire brigade who asked us who was going to foot the bill as they charge $95 per hour for their services. Upon hearing this, we took some moments to phone the late Lesabe’s children to get a solution.”
Bulawayo Chief Fire Officer Richard Peterson said the lodge’s employees phoned the fire department informing fire fighters of the inferno but instructed them to wait until they received another call summoning them to the property.
“The lodge’s employees phoned us notifying us about the fire but told us to wait for their second call instructing us to come while they negotiated on terms of payment with the rest of the family members,” said Peterson.
“Unfortunately these people neglected the fact that the fire was razing down properties while they phoned people as far as the United Kingdom. Yes we do charge $95 per hour and so it took us about 10 hours to put out that fire and a bill will be issued to them.”
Peterson said after the initial call, fire fighters were summoned 11 minutes later and when they arrived at the scene, eight structures had been reduced to ashes and two others were ablaze.
“Because of the wind, in an hour’s time, eight structures were in ashes and two were ablaze as ambers were blown from one thatched structure to the other,” said Peterson.
He said the fire was stubborn and uncontrollable because of the wind and they made about six trips to collect more water to fight it.
“Thatch is a bit tricky to deal with than anything else because thatch has to be pulled down to the ground and extinguished on the ground. Our team worked very hard to put out the fire because we actually ended up closing two stations to concentrate on that fire alone,” Peterson said.
He said they also poured water on structures that were not affected to prevent them from catching fire especially the ones close to the main house.
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