Two local businesses were ravaged by fire this weekend. On Sunday afternoon, a fire broke out at Parten Recycling on the KaNyamazane Road, close to the N4 intersection.
According to the owner, Parten Ndlovu, the fire started at around 11:30.
“Three of our bailing machines were destroyed along with a lot of stock,” Ndlovu explained. He added that the accumulated value of the items was about R800 000.
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Ndlovu believes that it was an act of vandalism, as there were firebreaks around the recycling area. He alleged that the same thing happened in 2017.
“But I am not mad. If God wanted it to happen, who am I to deny it?” Only a few hours before, another fire ravaged Golden Frontiers Citrus (GFC) in Hectorspruit.
According to Securicon Lowveld’s Gerhard Coetzer, they were the first to arrive on the scene after an alarm at the warehouse went off. They contacted emergency services.
According to the Nkomazi Local Municipality’s fire brigade Fritz Koekemoer, they were dispatched to the fire at 04:30.
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“We will have to wait for the forensic report to establish what caused the fire, but I can tell you that 70 per cent of the building has been destroyed,” Koekemoer said.
He added that they were assisted by MBM Security, Field Security, the fire departments of Malalane and Tonga, as well as additional water tanks from Omnia. The fire was extinguished at about 10:30. GFC could not be reached for comment at the time of going to press.
