CAMA rubbishes Escom fire report, claims report manipulated

The Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) has trashed the forensic report by Incendium Fire Investigation of South Africa which has conclusively failed to trace the source of the fire that destroyed the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) headquarters in Blantyre last October.

Speaking in an interview on Wednesday, outspoken Cama executive director John Kapito said the report leaves a lot of unanswered questions and its credibility is suspect.

Said Kapito: “We strongly believe that the report is a manipulation by an insurance consultant who, in our opinion, did not understand the key issues that the people of Malawi believed to have been the cause of the fire.

“We do not believe and trust such a report. Looking at the comments from Escom, they have rushed to conclude on the findings of the report where they have indicated that with this report everything surrounding the Escom fire is dead and buried.”

Escom headquarters was destroyed by fire on October 18 last year and the State-owned power utility engaged a South African firm to come up with a forensic report to determine the possible cause of the fire.

On Tuesday, Escom public relations manager Kitty Chingota told The Nation that the matter has been put to rest and that no further investigations would be undertaken as a forensic audit is the best one can undertake.

She said: “This puts the matter to rest. There were many rumours going on around, some claimed there was sabotage while others said other things, but the forensic report shows that the fire was an accident. We believe this answers people’s queries.”

But Kapito said Chingota’s sentiments were an indication that the report was written to suit Escom’s expectations.

He said: “We do not want a report that would prove that there was foul play, but a report that would clarify the key concerns that Malawians had when they fire broke out.

“From Escom’s point of view, the report was prepared in order to silence the public and we wonder indeed whether we agree with these findings.”

Yesterday, The Nation broke the news that Escom’s forensic report did not establish the cause of the fire.

In their official report seen by The Nation, Incendium Fire Investigation of South Africa only said there were insufficient interpretable fire patterns to allow for determination of an area of fire origin during the interior inspection.

But in their communication to Office of the President and Cabinet, Escom management indicated that they have engaged an assessor, asked for a report from the police and a structural assessment which was done by Romana Consulting Engineering has proposed that the first floor slab of the building be partially or completely demolished.

According to the forensic report, which was concluded on the October 30, it could not clearly conclude as to what might have caused the fire.

Reads part of the report: “The physical evidence, considered with the reported version of the events as relayed by occupants of the payroll office and the security guard indicated that the fire had possibly resulted from an electrical failure/overheating of an electrical multi-plug adapter or its serving wiring, by virtue of the fact that it had reportedly been energised during the fire and located in close proximity to suitable combustible material. The pre-fire status of the electrical appliances could not be verified due to the listed constraints and the fire cause is classified as undetermined.”

The report further says the fire brigade had concentrated putting out the fire in one area, and neglected the other.