Mansion up in smoke

A 15-room mansion at Blagdon Farm was extensively damaged on Thursday after a suspected electrical fault sparked a fire that consumed furniture, jewellery, thousands of dollars in cash, and important documents, including architectural plans for the proposed Maranatha Christian University.

Homeowner Dr Samuel Mudavanhu told reporters the blaze started shortly after power was restored following an earlier outage. "The house was big, about 15 rooms, 10 of which were fully furnished bedrooms with en-suites. All the beds, linen, everything was burnt. Everything was burnt," he said.

The house was unoccupied at the time, as the Mudavanhu family resides in Harare. The fire was first spotted by a gardener who alerted security and farm workers. Despite their efforts, the flames quickly spread, prompting the Kadoma Fire Brigade to respond.

"They tried to quench the fire, but it was too much. The brigade was very efficient, but unfortunately, they could not retrieve anything," Dr Mudavanhu said.

The loss included personal property as well as institutional items such as architectural drawings for the university, jewellery approved by the council, and collected school fees.

Dr Mudavanhu blamed recurring faults with local power lines and criticised ZESA for delayed responses to previous reports of burning cables. "Three weeks ago, we had cables burning, and we called ZESA. They only fixed it after about a month. And now my house is burnt," he said.

Mashonaland West police spokesperson Inspector Ian Kohwera confirmed that investigations are ongoing. "We are still investigating the cause of the fire. Once details are available, we will update you," he said.