MANZINI: Over 400 hawkers involved in the selling of second hand clothes (Dobhaphasi)business at the Manzini Bus Rank will be greatly affected by the burning of their stock.
This comes after their storeroom mysteriously caught fire and burnt their stock of bales at Palm Beach building last night.
Reached for comments, Mathokoza Sikhondze, the Coordinator of the Coalition of Informal Economy Associations(CIEAS)confirmed the matter adding that they suspected that the fire was caused by an electrical fault .
“This fire will affect over 400 hawkers who are mostly women who depend on this business for a living. We are yet to assess the extent of the damage but we suspect the fire was caused by an electrical fault”, he said.
Mathokoza Tfwala, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) at the Manzini Municipal Council had not responded to our questions at the time of compiling this report.
On another note, a daughter to Yousef, the owner of the building revealed that the suspect was known since he had been threatening to burn it down adding that he was in police custody.
“He told me that he would burn the building to prove a point to some people, indeed it was on fire at around 10pm.He is now in police custody,”she said.
Phindile Vilakati,the eSwatini Police Spokesperson had not responded at the time of compiling this report.
Eswatini, a tiny Kingdom situated in Southern Africa has about 70% of the population living below the poverty line. The citizens, mostly women earn a living through informal trade.
Man burns Hawkers clothes in a business conflict, over 400 hawkers affected.