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Cde Midzi

Herald Reporter
Police were yesterday tight-lipped on the suspected case of arson that saw Zanu-PF offices in Highfield and the party’s publishing company, Jongwe Printers, being burnt on Saturday morning.However, police sources yesterday said investigations were still ongoing and some details might be released today.

“The case is still under investigation and by tomorrow the public might have full details of what happened and if there are any arrests,” said the source. Property worth thousands of United States dollars went up in flames during the incident in which there werer no injuries.

Property in a grocery shop next to the offices was also destroyed. Zanu-PF Harare provincial chairman Ambassador Amos Midzi said there were no developments.

“We have not heard any developments and we are still waiting for police to give a full statement,” he said.
Witnesses at Machipisa Shopping Centre on Saturday said they noticed a fire at the office at around 2am.

They said the fire spread to a nearby supermarket, destroying goods and property worth thousands of dollars.
“As you can see, the office is now in ashes and we have lost property which includes benches, tables and books,” said Zanu-PF secretary for administration for Glen View 7 Cde Fitzgerald Mukumba.

“The forensic experts came and took some samples.
“Results will be out soon, but our position at the moment is that there was foul play because there was no electricity. Therefore, it could not have been an electrical fault.”

Mr Lawrence Tendengu, a shop assistant at Grocery World Supermarket, said they lost goods worth about USS$50 000.
“When the boss came this morning, she fainted because goods worth over US$50 000 went up in flames. The Fire Brigade came on time.  Unfortunately, they did not have enough water to stop the fire from spreading from the Zanu-PF office.’’