Picture: The fire that ravaged Cabanas Hotel in Sun City Resort in Rustenburg/Screengrab
By OBAKENG MAJE
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in North West calls on the South African Police Services (SAPS) Organised Crime Unit to investigate the sporadic fires in North West.
The DA spokesperson on Community Safety and Transport Management in North West, Freddy Sonakile said they have written to the North West Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Sello Kwena, requesting that he allocate a Task Team to investigate ongoing fires targeting critical infrastructure in the province.
“This request follows an earlier view by the DA that, the ongoing fires in the province indicate possible signs of economic sabotage. A fire gutted the Pilanesberg Airport last month. This weekend, a fire gutted the Manyane Resort.
“The DA expects the task team to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the fires throughout the province and make specific reference to the Mmabatho Palms, Pilanesberg Airport, Christiana Clinic, the Manyane Resort, and the offices of the Department of Social Development,” he said.
Sonakile further said the Manyane Resort fire, strengthens their suspicion of economic sabotage. He added that, over the last two years, there have been several incidents of unexplained fires targeting critical infrastructure.
“The Police Task Team must investigate each of these fires and produce a comprehensive report. Individuals identified, either through negligence or deliberate economic sabotage must be charged and prosecuted.
“These fires have destroyed critical infrastructure and resulted in the loss of millions of rands, which the North West Provincial Government (NWPG) is unable to rebuild,” said Sonakile.
According to the Sun City General Manager, Brett Hoppe, the fire broke out in the kitchen at around 2:30pm.
“A fire broke out in the Cabanas Hotel kitchen at about 2.30pm on Saturday afternoon. The staff noticed a small fire which they extinguished, but it had already spread through the extraction ventilation to the reception area,” he said.
In a separate incident, the North West MEC for Department of Economic Development Environment Conservation and Tourism (DEDECT), Virginia Tlhapi said Manyane Resort also suffered the same fate of the fire outbreak.
“There were no injuries reported in the two incidents and DEDECT as a custodian of tourism in the province, is working closely with the management of Cabanas Hotel and Manyane Resort to establish the root cause of the fire outbreak.
“These unfortunate incidents happened during the Tourism Month when the North West province is preparing itself to host the World Tourism Day from 26-27th of September 2023. It is equally important to indicate that, the fire outbreak in Sun City happened immediately after the North West Government held a successful Premiers Investor Dinner,” she said.
Tlhapi further said the importance of the tourism sector in the economy of the province cannot be overemphasised as such. She added that they are working hand in glove with the management of Sun City and Manyane Resort to try and normalize the situation.
“The Manyane Resort is currently closed until further notice. However, the Park Mahala Week Programme, which started from 10-17 September 2023 is continuing in other parks of the province,” said Tlhapi.
The Guardian 