THE Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) bomb disposal unit and the Bulawayo Fire Brigade had to be called in after a grenade exploded at a Bulawayo school during a routine burning of grass and rubbish.
The incident that occurred two months ago has been
indicated as one of the “fires of interest” by the Bulawayo City Council, with
councillors expressing concern over issues to do with safety and the need to
investigate the origins of the grenade.
According to the latest council report, ground workers at
Ntshamathe Primary School in Old Magwegwe where clearing the grounds and
decided to burn the grass and rubbish after, when the bomb exploded.
“The school workers had cleared the school ground at
Ntshamathe Primary School and in the process of burning the grass and rubbish,
the fire went out of control and spread to the rest of the ground.
While the fire was burning a very loud explosion was heard
from the grounds and a dark cloud was observed with trembling of nearby houses.
It was later discovered after the ZNA bomb disposal unit had attended that a
grenade had exploded.
This is one of the risks that our fire-fighters face in the
process of fighting bush fires,” reads the report.
Commenting on the incident, during a full council meeting
last Wednesday, Ward Four Councillor, Silas Chigora said while the incident
appeared to be isolated there was a need for council to take it more seriously
and engage the army to check public places and assure the public of their
safety.
“This happened in a school, which in itself is scary. The
question is are we really safe in Bulawayo? Where did this grenade come from,
how did it end up in the school grounds? Is it a grenade from the times of the
liberation struggle? Something really has to be done to make sure that our
public places are safe, if possible let us invite the army to generally go
through all the schools and public places. We really have to assure the
public’s safety,” said Clr Chigora.
The level offences are benchmarked to the Government levels
where Level Three is attracting a fine of $5 000. Debating during the full
council meeting, councillors commended the local authority for coming up with
the by-laws and further encouraged the putting up of street names so as to
further improve property identification.
“Alderman Siboniso Khumalo applauded the Fire and Ambulance
Department for coming up with a good move to fine residents who did not display
their property numbers. He urged the relevance development to also anchor
street names as they would also make identification of a property/house easier
in case of emergency. He wanted to know if the system was in use and also
reliable,” reads the report.
The Chamber Secretary, Mrs Sikhangele Zhou, revealed that
the by-laws had been advertised for comments from stakeholders before
finalisation and gazetting. Sunday News
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