Govt Offers Bereavement Package To Esigodini Veld Fire Victims
The Government through the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) says it will assist the families of the 10 men who lost their lives in a veld fire incident in Umzingwane District last year.
The affected families are set to receive a bereavement package, which includes an education fund to put the children of the deceased through school.
Mhlaliswa Ngwenya, who survived the fire disaster, will also receive a US$1 000 token of appreciation.
In a speech read on his behalf by Environmental Management Agency board chairman, Ambassador Zenzo Nsimbi, Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu said:
The death of the 10 men was a loss not only to their immediate families but to the entire nation. Such a loss is not felt by the immediate families only but by the entire nation.
This relief involves payment of a once-off condolence token to the next of kin for the three victims without spouses and children, payment of a once-off bereavement relief to the surviving spouses of seven victims, and payment of a once-off token of appreciation to the sole survivor of the fire disaster.
The ten people died at a farm known as Lot 43 of Essexvale, near Falcon College, while trying to put out a raging veldt fire.
Veld fires are a significant problem in Zimbabwe, particularly during the dry season between May and October.
They are are often caused by human activity, such as improper disposal of cigarette butts or burning of fields for agricultural purposes.
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