A major fire tore through Harare’s Glenview Area 8 furniture complex in the early hours of Saturday, destroying almost half of the busy trading and manufacturing centre and leaving scores of furniture makers facing heavy losses.
The blaze began at about 2am and was eventually contained by the City of Harare Fire Brigade. However, fire engines struggled to access and enter the affected section of the complex, where tightly packed workspaces, narrow routes and combustible materials have made firefighting difficult during previous outbreaks.
City of Harare Small and Medium Enterprises Committee chairperson Denford Ngadziore confirmed the scale of the latest destruction.
“Almost half of the entire complex destroyed. This is believed to be the biggest and most devastating fire incident at the complex,” Ngadziore said.
The value of the furniture, machinery, timber and other goods destroyed had not yet been established. Officials were carrying out an assessment to determine the full extent of the damage, while the exact cause of the fire remained unknown.
For traders at Glenview Area 8, the latest blaze is another severe setback at a site that has suffered repeated fires over several years. Furniture makers work in sheds and makeshift structures built from planks, tarpaulins and metal roofing. Many keep timber, sawdust, foam, plastic packaging, paint and finished furniture close together, creating conditions in which flames can spread quickly.
The complex, located along Willowvale Road, was established by the Government in 2000 as a space for furniture manufacturers and other small businesses. It has grown into a large informal industrial centre with hundreds of workers, but its expansion has not been matched by reliable water supplies, wide access roads or adequate fire-control facilities.
A series of earlier fires has already destroyed machinery, stock and finished goods belonging to traders who often have no insurance to fall back on. In 2018, two separate fires swept through the complex. One carpenter, Tonderai Muyambiri, said a June fire had destroyed machinery and furniture prepared for sale.
“l lost machinery and stock ready for sale, all worth around $8,000,” he said of the fire.
In 2022, another section of Glenview Area 8 was gutted during a night-time fire. Traders said it was the second fire at the complex that year. Property worth thousands of dollars was destroyed, although no injuries were reported. Later outbreaks were also recorded in 2024 and 2025, adding to a long record of losses at the site.
The repeated fires have forced traders to take their own steps to reduce the danger. Some have stopped keeping all their furniture in one place and spread their stock across different parts of the complex. Others have depended on night guards to alert them when smoke or flames appear so that they can try to move whatever they can before the fire reaches their workspaces.
“We are no longer keeping our stock at one place within this complex, but we place our furniture in various locations within the complex to minimize damage,” Muyambiri said.
Another trader, Nhema, said the shortage of water had repeatedly weakened the response to fires.
“Every year we experience fire outbreaks,” he said. “There is no water and even when the fire brigade comes, they will not be able to do anything without water.”
The latest fire again exposed the practical problems facing emergency crews. Even when tenders reach the area, they can struggle to move through congested passages and reach the centre of the complex. The lack of clear fire breaks and accessible roads allows flames to jump from one workspace to another, while workers often have little time to remove machinery or stock.
The same pattern has been seen elsewhere in Harare, where market fires have repeatedly wiped out the livelihoods of informal traders. At Mbare Musika, Zimbabwe’s largest market, a fire that began on the night of 8 October 2024 destroyed the entire retail section and parts of the wholesale market. A later assessment found that 4,695 traders were directly affected, including 1,511 stall operators and 3,184 lessees. The livelihoods of about 23,000 people were affected by the destruction.
Traders lost food, hardware, gas tanks, solar panels, radios, clothing and imported goods. Some also lost cash that had been kept with their stock. The total value of goods, cash and property destroyed was put at about US$5 million. The fire also highlighted how many traders keep their savings close to their businesses because they do not trust banks or cannot afford regular access to formal financial services.
“I lost 10 bags of kapenta fish (matemba),” Mbare trader Ruth Nevanji said.
Another trader, Maonei Kadyakumbuka, described the loss of her entire stock.
“I had gas tanks, solar panels, radios . . . everything,” she said. “Now, it’s all gone. US$10 000, vanished in the flames. And I have no Plan B.”
The Government declared the Mbare fire a State of Disaster and promised emergency support, loans, grants, temporary trading space and a new market with improved infrastructure and emergency-response systems. The scale of the proposed response reflected the number of families whose incomes depended on the market.
Four months later, another major fire struck the Magaba Complex in Mbare. The blaze began shortly after midnight on 13 February 2026 and continued for more than five hours. Hundreds of informal traders were left counting their losses as flames swept through the commercial hub.
The Harare City Council deployed three fire tenders. Additional water tankers were brought in so that the tenders would not have to return to the station to refill while the fire was still burning.
“To avoid a situation where our fire tenders have to be driven back to the fire station to fetch more water, the Emergency Help Group provided tankers of water,” officials said.
No cause was established at the time, and no final value was placed on the goods destroyed. The fire nevertheless reinforced the problems faced by traders working in crowded commercial areas where water, access and emergency equipment are limited.
Glenview’s furniture makers now face the same uncertainty. Many have lost the materials needed to rebuild, while others have seen finished furniture, machinery and orders disappear overnight. The complex is also a source of employment for carpenters, welders, upholsterers, transporters and casual workers who depend on the flow of business from the workshops.
Officials are expected to complete the damage assessment before decisions are made on support and reconstruction. For the traders, the immediate task is to clear the burnt remains, protect whatever stock survived and find a way to resume work in a place where fires have become a recurring threat.
The latest destruction has once again placed the condition of Harare’s informal industrial sites under scrutiny. Glenview Area 8 was created to support small manufacturers, but traders continue to work among flammable materials, congested pathways and unreliable services. Until those conditions change, every new fire risks taking away not only furniture and equipment, but the income of hundreds of families.