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Zambia’s biggest market which was destroyed by fire

LUSAKA. – Fire swept through Lusaka City Market yesterday destroying property worth millions of kwacha in what police suspect to be an act of sabotage.

Macdonald Nyirenda, a youth chairperson in charge of security at the city market, claimed that the inferno started around 5am after police opened the market to allow council workers to sweep.

The fire brigade only managed to put out the fire around 9am. According to the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) news crew, they found the market engulfed as shop owners cried helplessly watching as their property burnt to ashes. Presidential Affairs Minister Freedom Sikazwe who rushed to the scene described the incident as sabotage.

Sikazwe wondered why people behind the act were punishing innocent citizens by destroying public property. He appealed to citizens to work with the Zambia Police Service to bring the culprits to book.

Lusaka provincial Minister Japhen Mwakalombe said burning of public property is barbaric. Mwakalombe said people’s lives have been destroyed as those affected by the fire depend on businesses they own in the market.

Meanwhile, President Edgar Lungu has said that the law will catch up with lawbreakers and those engaging in acts bordering on economic sabotage.

President Lungu called on Zambians to remain patient as they await a full report by security services. He said that if the fire is an act of arson, then those destroying public property are enemies of the people.

Speaking in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia before departure for Lusaka, President Lungu said for now, security services have told him that it is too early to reach any conclusions.

President Lungu said he will wait to hear from security wings on arrival back home. He said the people must remain calm and ensure no retaliatory action is taken to worsen the situation.

The President said this in a statement availed to the media news by his special assistant for press and public relations Amos Chanda. Acting President Inonge Wina warned that it is time to act against people that want to make Zambia ungovernable.

VP Wina said that government will no longer tolerate acts of sabotage, adding that there will be no mercy on the perpetrators of the acts, once arrested.

She said that it was unfortunate that women and other marketeers have been left vulnerable after the burning of their merchandise at city market.

Meanwhile, some opposition political parties have called on the Zambia police to quickly arrest the people behind the fire that has gutted Lusaka city market.

New Congress Party-NCP- president Peter Chanda and Zambia Republican Party-ZRP president Wright Musoma have appealed to Zambians to remain calm in the face of the latest incidence.

Speaking to ZNBC News in a walk-in interview, Chanda also challenged other opposition political parties and the church to come out and strongly condemn the acts of arson and sabotage.

Pastor Chanda said the fire has affected all Zambians regardless of their political affiliation. He said he had been affected by the fire as his stand at the market has been destroyed. Musoma said the market was built at great cost and is accessible to all Zambians.

Musoma said the people behind the alleged arson attack have ill intentions and do not mean well to the country. In a statement, MMD president Nevers Mumba consoled those affected saying: “We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with all the affected families. We share in your pain and trust the Lord God of comfort shall give you peace through these ‘fires’ of life.

“In view of this catastrophic development, we call on government to find a way to systematically provide some compensation to the affected families to allow them to start afresh. This is the role of government in the face of tragedies of this nature globally. We cannot turn our backs against our own people.”

He paid tribute to the fire services department for the work they did with very limited tools, adding that “while the whole nation waits for the investigative agents to indicate the source of these fires, we call for calm and reasonableness. The police must institute a wide open investigation extending to wherever the evidence takes them . . . ” – ZNBC/Lusaka Times/Agencies.