Zimbabwe: Bales of Tobacco Go Up in Smoke

Source from:  The Herald 07/27/2015

Mashonaland Tobacco Company (MTC) yesterday lost tobacco when one of its warehouses along Simon Mazorodze Road was gutted by fire in a suspected case of arson.

Some of the workers who declined to be named, said the warehouse had more than 5 000 bales of tobacco when the inferno swept accross the building. Reports say workers were disgruntled over undisclosed dispute with management.

The fire started around 10 am and by evening, fire figheters from Harare City Council were still struggling to extingusih it.

The cause of the fire could not be ascertained and the company officials said they were still to establish the cause.

In the morning, the crop was smoldering but it later burst into huge flames around 4pm, destroying the upper part of the warehouse and causing the roof to collapse.

Several fire tenders were at the scene and bulk water containers were brought in during the evening.

MTC finance director, Mr Walker Ntini, said the extent of the damage could only be established today.

"We can only determine the extent of the damage after the fire has been put out. By tomorrow (today) we will have all the facts.

"We have a significant loss of tobacco. We were alerted of a fire around 10am and the fire fighters responded swiftly. They attended in less than an hour. The affected tobacco had just been bought from farmers and had not been processed," he said.

Mr Ntini said MTC was in the business of processing and packaging of tobacco and supplied cigarette manufactures with the processed crop.

"The tobacco is also exported to Europe, Asia and Africa especially South Africa," he said.

Mr Ntini said the capacity of the warehouse and estimation of the damages was confidential.

"We have competitors and we cannot release some information," he said.

He could not comment on the disgruntlement by some workers.

The factory was closed yesterday and some workers who had come for the afternoon shift were sent back home. Enditem