POLITICAL contestations and overcrowding have been blamed for dogging the Glen View Area 8 complex which was for the umpteenth time gutted by fire yesterday.
There are reports that intimidation of traders by politicians and mismanagement of funds have perennially stalked the complex housing more than 500 informal economy entrepreneurs who specialise in the production and selling of furniture.
Yesterday’s inferno razed more than half of the complex and the Harare Fire Brigade helplessly watched thousands of dollars’ worth of furniture go up in smoke after failing to access the complex’s maze of workshops and shops.
Speaking to NewsDay yesterday, traders who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation said there was gross misuse of funds by a self-appointed committee comprising Zanu PF youths and bouncers making it impossible to have proper development.
“We are forced to pay a dollar for every piece of furniture we sell on the pretext of ensuring security for our wares and we are also made to pay some money from time to time, failure of which we are subjected to thorough beating by the bouncers who pose as security at the complex,” one trader said.
“We strongly believe those are the people causing the fires as there is talk that they steal some of our wares and then start the fires. What is of concern this time around is that the security did not do anything and they are not giving convincing statements as to how the fire broke out.”
Committee members interviewed yesterday said they had no idea where and how the fire started.
Clever Makatara Zanu PF youth political commissar for Glen View 3A district said there were many conflicting statements regarding fire outbreaks at the complex.
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Shifting the blame to the Harare City Council for having vested interests in the complex, Makatara said: “A lot of versions always arise in situations like these, for instance, today’s (yesterday's) incident, we gather, it is said to have started from a storage container where phones are charged at the back of the complex.
“The storage container has form rubber storage places, so we think this is what caused the inferno. We need help here, the structure is not good, there is no space for roads or to put fireguards, we are looking into developing in that regard.
“Council wants to grab this land, it belongs to Zanu PF, it’s ours. Yes we need them sometimes so we don’t have a problem when they come to collect rates but we won’t tolerate them taking the place from us.”
Zanu PF youth chairperson for Glen View 3A, Reward Maupa said the fire broke out around midnight.
“We are made to believe it originated from a phone charging booth. What worsened the fire is that the fire erupted in the dead of the night and there was limited manpower to put it out,” he said.
“There was a challenge in getting the fire brigade to enter the complex as there are no roads.”
It is estimated that more than 1 500 people are directly or indirectly employed at the complex.
