It is an abomination that in South Africa, while raising your hands in worship, you might also have to raise them in fear as gun-toting scumbags rob your church.
Congregants in Bushbuckridge and KwaMhlanga in Mpumalanga learnt the hard way that even the House of the Lord is not spared by criminals.
It was reported that a group of six armed suspects stormed a church during prayers in KwaMhlanga and robbed the congregants of their mobile phones, wallets, clothes and cash.
What sort of sick nation are we? What futures are being carved in this fertile ground of violence and crime? Where are people safe? And who will save us when law enforcement officials urge churches to invest in security?
Mpumalanga community safety, security and liaison MEC Jackie Macie has appealed to churches to hire security or have a police presence during services. Imagine walking into church and God is not your saviour and protector, but an armed force is?
No arrests have yet been made, but this cannot be normal. The rot is so deep that even those meant to ensure our safety are relinquishing the responsibility to communities.
Police spokesperson Brig Donald Mdhluli said churches must assess the likelihood of robbery or other safety threats based on location, time of day and other factors.
There seems to be a disturbing trend in the province. Just last week congregants at a church in Mkhuhlu, Calcutta, were robbed and the suspects fled in a churchgoer's vehicle.
Last month, suspects were arrested after they robbed a church in Klipfontein, eMalahleni (formerly Witbank). Nine church members, including the pastor and church elders, were held at gunpoint shortly before 7pm and ordered to lie down, said police.
To add to the list of incidents, five men wearing balaclavas entered and disrupted an all-night prayer service in Numbi and forcibly took the congregants' belongings. Acting Mpumalanga police commissioner Maj-Gen Zeph Mkhwanazi said: “We grew up knowing the House of the Lord is a sacred place to be respected. It is deeply concerning that criminals now boldly target churches.”
If criminals can strip the sanctity from the spaces meant to be safe havens, then we are standing at the edge of moral collapse. A nation where worshippers must pray under armed guard is a nation that has lost its soul. South Africa cannot normalise armed robberies in churches as just another crime.
The police must do more than issue warnings, leaders must do more than plead, and citizens must refuse to accept fear as the price of faith. To allow this to stand is to concede that nothing, not even God’s house, is sacred any more.
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