PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has declared the Glen View Area 8 complex fire, which destroyed goods worth over US$100,000 a national disaster.This was revealed by Local Government Minister, Daniel Garwe, on Monday, adding that the government was now moving in to assist the affected traders.”Once the President has declared a state of disaster the department of Civil Protection under the Ministry of Local Government will move in and mobilise resources and assist those that have been affected, we are now working with the City of Harare, Ministry of Women Affairs and the affected traders so that we have a comprehensive list of those that were affected so that we come up with a way of assisting them,” he said.Garwe added that refurbishment of the complex will start in September, targeting completion by April 2026.”We are hoping that before Indepence (April 18) next year, beginnning of March or beginning of April we will be able to invite the President to come and commission a transformed Glew View area 8 with properly laid out areas with different shops because we cant have one roof covering over 5 hectares so we want to have different shops, a road network, electricity, water and sewer reticlutaionn properly done.”This is not the first time a fire has happened at the home industry, and this is now the 10th fire to break out at the complex since 2015.City of Harare SMEs Committee Chairperson, Councillor Denford Ngadziore, said preliminary investigations suggest the fire was started by security guards who lit a fire to keep warm near easily flammable materials.Speaking during a visit to the site on Monday, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said authorities are working together to assist affected families and find lasting solutions to the recurring fires.”There is no them and us, we must all unite to end this problem at GlenView 8.”We have a committee which involves the Local Ministry, Civil Protection Unit, City Council, SMEs ministry and other relevant authorities working on assessments of the damage and finding solutions and how we can help the families that have been affected,” Mutsvangwa said.
Originally published on AllAfrica
Source: Allafrica
