Restoring Magwegwe family’s dignity after house inferno

THREE days before Christmas Day last year, Mrs Joice Mawire Dube’s world came crumbling down after she received news that her house in New Magwegwe suburb had been razed by a fire.

That single phone call on the afternoon of 22 December 2022 turned the 57-year-old woman’s world upside down.

A preliminary report by the Bulawayo Fire Brigade indicated that an electrical fault was the cause of the inferno that engulfed the four roomed house, completely destroying everything in the kitchen, an adjacent bedroom, the entire roof, part of the sitting room and the main bedroom.

Neighbours pooled together blankets, food and whatever they could to assist Mrs Dube’s four school going grand children who were at home when the fire broke out.

She immediately travelled from her rural home in Lupane to Bulawayo when she received the news to see for herself the unfortunate incident that had befallen the family.

“My world crumbled right before my eyes when I arrived here from Lupane. Everything in the house was black from the smoke; the walls, the little furniture that was left in the main bedroom were all unrecognisable.

“All the documents, from the kids’ birth certificates, my national identity document and other important documents were all gone. It was the worst day of my life.

“I cried mntanami. What made the situation worse was the fact that it was only three days before Christmas Day and my family had nothing because of the fire; no clothes, no blankets and all the food was gone,” Mrs Dube said.

The following months after the fire were a blur to her.

She says she survived by the grace of God.

The family had to endure nights of sleeping in a house with a makeshift roof.

What they called home reeked of a heavy stench of smoke from the inferno.

A non-governmental-organisation, the Forever Associates of Zimbabwe (FAZ) Lobengula-Magwegwe Constituency chapter heard about Mrs Dube’s predicament and sprung to action.

FAZ delegates visited the home to assess the situation and made estimates of how much would be required to rebuild Mrs Dube’s house.

“I had no idea what FAZ was until the day they came to my house offering to assist to rebuild my home. They are God sent; I have no words to express my gratitude for everything that FAZ did for me.

“They should continue assisting the people of Bulawayo in the same way they assisted me,” she said.

Mrs Dube took a Chronicle news crew on a tour of the house together with reprentatives of FAZ and the local Zanu-PF leadership

and we observed the new roof that had been installed.

The kitchen has been refurbished, a new electrical system had been put in place as well as structural work outside to make the walls strong again.

Aspiring Member of Parliament for Lobengula-Magwegwe constituency Cde Butholezwe Ndlovu thanked FAZ for the kind gesture.

“Organisations like FAZ are the link between the communities that we live in and Zanu-PF and as such they assist us in identifying problems affecting our people at grassroots level.

“Today we are witnessing that link between communities and FAZ and we want to thank them for assisting Mrs Dube in her time of need,” said Cde Ndlovu.

Local FAZ member Mr Gerald Sibanda said in addition to renovating Mrs Dube’s house, they bought her furniture.

“So far, we have bought her new sofas and a refrigerator. She lost so much in that fire so we hope the furniture will give her a headstart in addition to the renovations that we carried out at the house,” said Mr Sibanda.

Another FAZ member Ms Evidence Moyo said the organisation is moving in line with President Mnangagwa’s drive of leaving no-one and no place behind.

“We live to serve our communites hence we are here today to hand over the renovated house to Mrs Dube. No place and no one will be left behind,” she said.