Fire consumes art centre

Millions of rands of damage was caused when a huge wildfire consumed the Mutale Arts and Craft Centre. The incident, which occurred around 12:00 on Tuesday, left residents of rural Mutale in shock.

The centre, which housed a restaurant, offices and many stalls, was completely gutted, allegedly by fire from an adjacent shop. Eyewitnesses who were close by when it started said they noticed a man burning some papers at the back of his shop, but it allegedly spread  to the tall grasses in the yard housing the centre. Within a short while, the whole building was engulfed in flames.

Ms Tshilidzi Makhado (42) of Khubvi, who owns a clothing and décor stall, said she was busy preparing orders for customers at around midday when a person from outside the centre came running and told them there was fire at the back of the centre. “We left our work stations and ran to the back, only to find that the fire was already burning uncut grass at the back. We notified the municipality and within a short space of time firefighters from the local fire station arrived."

According to her, when a water tanker arrived, the fire had already spread to the roof of the centre because of the wind. "They tried fighting it using their hoses, but they soon ran out of water and we had to watch helplessly as the whole centre was consumed by the huge fire. Luckily, some of us were able to salvage some of the items from the burning centre but many lost thousands of rands in stock and completed orders,” she said.

Makhado further indicated that the fire was a huge setback for her as she was saving for her daughter who could not continue with her studies at college because of a lack of funds. “I had orders that were already paid for and I was hoping that I would use the money to take her back to college, but all this will have to wait because I have to buy material for my clients. We have lost a lot and it will be very hard for us to get back on our feet after this. The worst part is that we no longer have any place to work from; this is a very sad day for us all,” she said.

Businessman and professional photographer Jerry Masevhe, who stays in the area and was at the nearby St Augustine School, said he was busy at the school when he noticed that there was a fire at the centre. “I ran to the centre, only to find that the fire had already spread to the roof of the centre. We had to watch in disbelief as the centre was being consumed by the fierce flames and it was a sad moment for us all, as the centre was a tourist attraction and served as a source of income for many who worked here,” he said.

Date:02 September 2016

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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