The soothing sound of church music welcoming a guest pastor at a house of worship in Newlands in Johannesburg was brutally interrupted on Friday by the jarring sound of gunshots.
It is a sound that will haunt congregants forever as they saw Dwayne Gordon, who was thanking them for their invitation, being shot dead. His sin? Looking one of the assailants in the eye, probably as he was processing the shock of the intrusion.
Another pastor, Enrico Mosavel, is reported to have been wounded, as well as a third churchgoer.
The gang of six armed men made off with cellphones and other belongings — the price of a life and most likely a lifetime of trauma for those who survived, including the two young teenage boys sitting behind Gordon on the stage as the killers entered the church.
The video of the attack went viral, attracting the attention of news outlets. One person commented on social media X (formerly Twitter) that there had been a similar incident in a Rosettenville church in Johannesburg just last weekend, “where my boss’s younger sister was shot and she’s in a coma ... another one happened less than two weeks ago in a church in the east”.
Some of these do not make the news any more. The most recent incident, before the attack on the Eagle Christian Centre, that made it onto the news happened at the Emmanuel Community Church in Verulam in KwaZulu-Natal. This incident was also caught on camera, showing armed men holding the pastor at gunpoint before unplugging a television set and disappearing. No-one was injured.
But as one starts searching for reports on church robberies, a trend becomes noticeable.
In Overport, Durban, in January 2022, four women mourners were targeted after a funeral service and assaulted and robbed in the parking lot.
In August this year, members of the Enlightened Christian Gathering attended a night vigil in Mpumalanga when three armed men, with their faces covered, stormed the church.
According to police crime statistics, a woman was kidnapped from a church in Lusisiki in the Eastern Cape in 2019 and gang-raped.
The stories go on and on.
Probably the most prominent church shooting of recent times involved Pieter van der Westhuizen, the brother of late Springbok rugby player Joost van der Westhuizen, who shot dead two robbers at the Querencia Ministries Church in Wierda Park in Centurion in July 2020. The two assailants had assaulted the pastor. Van der Westhuizen was cleared of wrongdoing after an inquest into their deaths, with a finding that he had acted in self-defence.
While South Africa’s sky-high crime rate affects all spheres of society, the reality is a church gathering is an easy, soft target
Is this what it has come to? Do worshippers need to attend church armed to the teeth to protect themselves in case they get targeted by robbers?
While South Africa’s sky-high crime rate affects all spheres of society, the reality is a church gathering is an easy, soft target. People are less on their guard while worshipping and they are probably carrying cash for their offerings.
We can shout to the heavens about the injustice and senselessness of it all and complain about the police not doing their jobs, but in the end we need to be pragmatic and proactive. This means — and it doesn't make it right — that church leaders and their congregants need to take as many precautions as possible. Employ the same security measures they would at their homes, be as cautious while in a church service as you would be while driving through an area notorious for its crime. Employ additional security guards, and if you cannot afford it, ask for volunteers to take turns to keep watch. Involve communities and encourage people to report suspicious behaviour.
We might find, however, that many or most churches are already doing this. There has to be something more to be done. It is not a unique problem; it is a problem that requires us to think more broadly about a solution.
Church robberies are not only a local phenomenon. In the US, in February 2020, crime analyst Morgan Donald compiled a report on “crime on church property”. It analysed more than 23,000 incidents in 2016, the most recent year for which data was publicly available. The result? Burglary made up almost 20% of these crimes, theft 16% and assault and murder nearly 10%. There were four murders on church property in that year.
What do other countries do to act against this? There does not seem to be a simple answer. But maybe we can start the process of seeking a longer-term fix on local soil.
Ironically, a lot of research has also been done on the role of churches in preventing crime. This revolves around the church's social responsibility and potential to reach would-be criminals or even convicted criminals and help them turn their lives around.
South Africa has a rich history of church leaders coming together to try to help address social ills. In 2006, leaders from 24 churches approached then President Thabo Mbeki to discuss how they can help fight crime, with the Institute for Security Studies and the Business Leaders' Forum.
Perhaps it is time to revisit that approach and follow through on it. If the tragic death of Gordon can spur our church leaders, civil society and the government into action to start a new similar forum where we can, together, actively seek ways to make our streets safer, it can at least muffle the deadly sound of violence.
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