Mystery fire destroys goods belonging to Tsholotsho traders

Fifteen traders operating from Tsholotsho Business Centre have been left counting their losses after a mysterious fire destroyed goods stored in a shared storeroom on Thursday night.

The blaze reduced merchandise, including clothing, to ashes while leaving the roof and structure of the building intact, prompting traders to suspect the fire may have been deliberately started.

The storeroom, located at Tsholotsho Business Centre, is not connected to electricity, leaving the cause of the fire unclear.

Speaking on behalf of the affected traders, Sicelumusa Ngwenya said the incident had devastated small business owners whose livelihoods depended on the goods that were destroyed.

"We lost our goods, which include clothes, and this is our livelihood. We do not know where the fire came from because the storeroom has no electricity," she said.

"We are in shock that this has happened, but there have been attempts to burn our stuff before, which we thwarted and reported to council."

Ngwenya said the traders had previously raised concerns over alleged attempts to set fire to their property but believed more should have been done to address the issue.

She said the latest blaze had wiped out years of hard work and investment by small-scale traders, most of whom are women supporting their families through informal businesses.

"This is a major setback for women who have been nurturing their small businesses with the hope of growing them," she said.

Ngwenya added that many of the affected traders were now uncertain how they would recover from the losses and continue providing for their families.

The incident has once again highlighted the vulnerability of many small and medium-sized enterprises that operate without insurance, making it difficult to recover from disasters such as fires.

Responding to the allegations, Tsholotsho Rural District Council chief executive officer Nkululeko Sibanda said the local authority's fire department responded swiftly to the emergency.

He said firefighters arrived at the scene within five minutes of receiving the report.

Sibanda also dismissed claims that the council had ignored previous complaints from the traders.

"There was once a fire in the storeroom which burnt the wooden door, and we replaced it with a metal one," he said.

"Council cannot be held accountable for the fires because we support them as we do any other business."

The cause of the fire has not yet been established, and investigations into the incident are expected to determine what sparked the blaze.