MASVINGO – A Masvingo family was left counting their losses after a veld fire swept through their home destroying everything in its path, including two neatly-thatched houses.
The fire in Ndengu, Guru district, on October 5 also consumed the Ruvero family’s five-tonne maize harvest.
“There is no food at the moment, there is no place the family can use as a kitchen for cooking,” a distraught member of the family told ZimLive, asking not to be named saying the incident had triggered discussions steeped in superstition.
“About five tonnes of maize, fridges, beds and stoves were completely destroyed in the inferno.”
The fire is believed to have started from the banks of Mutora river which snakes through the village.
“We suspect the fire was started by people preparing their fields,” said the family spokesperson.
Neighbours joined the Ruvero family in a battle to stop the fire from reaching their sprawling home but their efforts were in vain.
Gogo Rurevo, who lives at the home with her grandchildren and workers, had just returned from Israel where she visited Golgotha and Jesus Christ’s tomb.
The dry season in Zimbabwe has become synonymous with veld fires. Hot and dry summers with high wind speeds coupled with dry vegetation increase the difficulty of extinguishing a veld fire once it has started.
Source: ZimLive
