Farmer 'burns' down clinic

Red wood Clinic in Umguza, about 54 kilometres along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road, was yesterday afternoon gutted by a fire reportedly started by a farmer clearing his field.
No one was injured as a result of the fire which broke out after midday in the area but swept across the road and encroached into the clinic yard where patients and health staff were, resulting in them only able to salvage blankets and a few mattresses.
When a team from the Fire Brigade in Bulawayo, which had been alerted to the fire by phone by the area's Member of Parliament, who is also the minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development Obert Mpofu, arrived at the scene, it was too late.
"We were alerted to the fire by minister Mpofu himself and it took us about 30 minutes to get here but the building had already collapsed," said the fire team leader, acting Bulawayo Fire Brigade divisional officer, Jabulani Ndlovu.
"We are still gathering information on what happened but it looks like a veld fire encroached on the clinic yard and part of the clinic building was grass thatched, and you can see there is grass around which made the situation highly combustible."
Angry villagers who battled to put out the fire said it was caused by a resettled farmer who was clearing his field.
"Ndlovu caused the fire," said one of the villagers.
"He was cautioned about starting the fire but stubbornly went ahead, boasting that he had experience in handling fires but I ask if the destruction of the clinic is the experience he was talking about?"
The villagers said since a new clinic should be built, they will, at the meantime, be forced to travel to Nyamandlovu, about 50 km from the area, for medical attention.
"Already, we are stranded as some of us wanted to collect our medication and don't know where to go now," said Usher Ndlovu, a middle aged woman from Maryland Resettlement Area.
"This is a tragedy."
The incident comes barely two months after a donation of equipment worth thousands of dollars to Lozikeyi Clinic - which is also an Umguza Rural District Council facility provided by Mpofu's wife, Senator Sikhanyisiwe Mpofu.
As part of the development programme for the area, the Mpofus have been assisting the local authority in equipping facilities at the health institution and even donated an ambulance for use in the constituency.