By Paul Nyathi | The late Joshua Nkomo’s iconic building, the Castle Arms in the Richmond Suburb of Bulawayo went up in highly suspicious flames on Saturday night.

The building which is part of the properties that were confiscated from Nkomo by Robert Mugabe’s government during the Gukurahundi period of the mid 80s, went up into flames under very unclear circumstances, and nearly destroying the entire complex.

The ruling party ZANU PF forcibly confisticated the building which was used by Nkomo’s PF ZAPU as a luxury hotel to raise funds for the party and accommodate party visitors in 1985, claiming that it was being used to fundraise for dissident activities.

After the unity accord of 1987, the several PF ZAPU properties including the Castle Arms Motel were never handed over to the party and have been under heavy dispute between ZANU PF and the ZAPU Veterans Trust.

In recent weeks the ZAPU Veterans have been threatening to invade the place and evict the unknown people staying there while the ZANU PF Bulawayo Province and War Veterans loyal to the party have been heavily resisting the move.

The building is heavily over populated accommodating over 30 families who all claim to be paying rentals to undisclosed persons suspected to be senior ZANU PF officials.

The war veterans alleged that a Mr George Mlala went to the place with some property which the war veterans were not impressed with.

Allegations are that the late former chairman Themba Ncube left his lover Sinikiwe Sibanda and her son living at the place and she boasts of having documentation that allows her to stay at Castle Arms.

Neighbours interviewed by ZimEye.com said that the building burst into a huge flame which could either have been a petrol bomb or an electrical fault.

Members of the Bulawayo Fire Brigade would not comment on the matter referring ZimEye.com to the police who would also neither comment on the incident.