BULAWAYO: Police and the Fire Brigade have launched an investigation into the cause of the fire which destroyed dozens of rolls of unlaid tartan track material and chemicals.

The tartan track was left over from the 2014 Zone 6 Youth Games.

Bulawayo Fire Brigade chief fire officer Richard Petersen said they would seek to establish the source of the fire before making conclusions whether it had been an accident or the fire had been deliberately started.

The fire broke out at White City’s B-Arena, which has smaller pitches for sporting disciplines like netball, tennis and basketball.

Huge plumes of smoke darkened the skyline over Iminyela and surrounding suburbs of Pelandaba and Lobengula as fire fighters battled the flames which shot several meters into the air.

In June, a bomb went off at the stadium during a Zanu PF rally addressed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Two people, both VIP security aides, died in the blast and 40 others were injured.

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