Tanzania, Aug. 15 -- Tanga. Long-term investments and business property turned to ashes on Saturday night after a major fire broke out along Twelfth Street in Tanga City, destroying 12 shops and leaving owners without capital or inventory.

Among the affected traders is, a former councillor for Tanga Region between 2020 and 2025, Mr Godiasi Kimati, who recounted a journey of over two decades rebuilding his life after relocating from Kilimanjaro in the late 1990s.

Starting as a domestic worker and later a street hawker selling goods from a head basket, Mr Kimati built an enterprise operating two shops, one for mobile phones and another for sports equipment, both of which were entirely destroyed.

"I managed to grow step-by-step from hawki...