Richards Bay - Daily operations at the City of uMhlathuze offices in Richards Bay were disrupted on Tuesday morning after a fire broke out forcing the evacuation of about 200 workers.
The fire broke out at about 9am in the offices commonly known as the civic centre in central Richards Bay on the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal.
The municipal building houses the council chambers where municipal meetings are held, the traffic department and other offices, such as the communications unit.
No fatalities were reported and by 10am the city’s firefighters were still battling the blaze, which attracted the attention of shoppers in the nearby malls.
Municipal manager Nkosenye Zulu said the fire was contained and not much damage was done to the building worth millions.
According to Zulu, they suspect that the fire broke out when a contractor hired to fix a leak was doing some welding.
The water leak affected mainly the council chamber and the roofing was about to cave in.
“What happened now, fast-forward to today, what happened is that as the company was working on the roof, it looks like they were welding something and fire erupted.
“We are very appreciative to the fire department of the city, who efficiently contained the fire to the kitchen.
PHOTOS: The situation at the headquarters of the City of Umhlathuze (Richards Bay-eMpangeni) after a fire broke out this morning. Municipal spokesperson Bongani Gina said firefighters are currently battling the blaze. @IOL pic.twitter.com/0HGIKaWGq4
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) March 28, 2023
“So, the building is intact, there is no damage whatsoever to the entire building with the exception of the kitchen area, where as we speak the fire officers are still extinguishing it,” Zulu said.
He added that they were going to allow some of their workers to disperse for the day in order to allow cleaning to take place and get the building ready for business once again.
WATCH: Fire fighters trying to contain the fire that broke out of the offices of the City of Umhlathuze (Richards Bay-eMpangeni). No fatalities have been reported so far. @IOL pic.twitter.com/lDPk9XdsJH
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) March 28, 2023
“If there was someone, you know, who did this deliberately, we are going to investigate as it is now a worrisome fact that we recently had some water and we now had the fire.
“Indeed inasmuch as we know that welding was taking place on the roof, but we are going to investigate to see what happened and we will inform the community if we find anything untoward,” Zulu added.
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