Churches that meet in schools sacrificed at the altar of pupil safety

After 10 years of holding his church services at a Cape Town school, Pastor Mziwamadoda Mdolomba finds himself with no place to lead his congregation in worship.

Church services have been permitted since the start of alert level 3 on June 1, but  Mdolomba’s House of Prayer for All Nations has still not returned to its home at Sinenjongo High School in Cape Town.

This is due to Covid-19 regulations issued by the national education department which prevent churches using schools.

According to the department’s revised standard operating procedures published on August 31, schools should not be used for church services, funerals or any other non-school activity.

This is meant to “minimise contamination of school facilities and to observe the social gathering restrictions”.

As well as inconveniencing churches, the restriction has come as blow to schools which rely on church rent to boost their income, allowing them to increase security and employ extra teachers. 

A Cape Town non-fee school said it had lost R300,000 as a result of being unable to rent its premises to churches and burial societies over weekends.

The principal, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “The money was of great help to us. Just this year when the department was delaying with deliveries of PPE [personal protective equipment], we used about R20,000 from rental to buy our own PPE.

“We’ve now started drafting our budget for next year but we had to cancel so many of our plans as there is no extra income for us.

“The money that we get from the norms and standards funding is never enough for the daily running of the school, hence we are always required to fundraise.”

Education department spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said restricting non-school events was in the interests of pupil safety.

“One of the requirements now is that school furniture has to be arranged in a certain manner to allow social distancing, and classes have to be sanitised daily to minimise infection,” he said. “How will this be possible if we allow churches to also use the very same premises?”

Mdolomba, who ran his church from Sinenjongo High School in Milnerton, Cape Town, said the new restrictions also hurt communities that depend on churches for psychosocial services.

“Churches are like rehabilitation centres for society. We don’t only provide spiritual nourishment to our members, we provide a lot of emotional support even to pupils who come from the very same communities and who have nowhere else to go to get counselling,” he said.

Pastor Mlungiseleli Mehlo from God in Action Church in Table View, Cape Town, said using public venues such as schools and community halls was the only affordable option for many churches.

“In most instances churches don’t have enough cash reserves to buy property of their own so schools are a very viable option. When that alternative is taken away it leaves many in great difficulty,” he said.

Pastor Richard Klaas of House of Prayer Christian Church in Cape Town said leaving its  base at Inkwenkwezi Secondary School had cut ties with the community.

“As religious leaders we become very involved in community issues, including law and order and social ills such as abuse, so when you up and go the community becomes very disheartened, and we also lose people in the process,” he said.

The principal of another non-fee school in Cape Town said the loss of income from church rent meant it might have to give up its leased photocopiers and printers.

“We also had a few school governing body posts for maths and science teachers which we will probably have to give up as we can no longer afford them,” she said.

“In fact we can’t even afford to pay our cleaners overtime or employ more. Despite the added work of having to sanitise the entire school on a daily basis, our cleaning staff component has not been increased.”

Western Cape education department spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said even though some schools were feeling the pinch, provincial departments were subject to the national rules.