Attacks, robberies targeting worshippers: CRL Rights Commission calls on SAPS to act
The recent murder of Pastor Dwayne Gordon during a church service, and other attacks which have happened in places of worship have raised the ire of the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities, also referred to as the CRL Rights Commission.
IOL reported earlier this week that there was no breakthrough in the murder of Gordon, who was shot and killed in Johannesburg on Friday.
On Monday morning, police confirmed they were still on the hunt for suspects that stormed the church in Rorich Street in Newlands and launched the attack which left Gordon dead.
In November, the police in Gauteng vowed to trace and bring to book gunmen who robbed congregants inside the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Joburg CBD during a service on a Saturday.
“Gauteng police have opened a business robbery docket after congregants in a church in the Johannesburg CBD were robbed of their belongings,” Gauteng police spokesperson, Colonel Noxolo Kweza said at the time.
“A group of six armed suspects walked into the church at midday and demanded personal items from the congregants. They threatened the churchgoers with firearms.”
Responding to the several attacks within places of worship, the CRL Rights Commission said it has noted with concern the ongoing attacks, and the incidents are spreading without recourse.
“The commission is deeply concerned that the attacks on religious leaders and places of worship pose a serious threat, not only to the right of people with respect to freedom of association, but even to our common humanity.
“The commission believes that these criminal acts continue to make the perpetrators behave as if they are a law unto themselves and thereby posing a serious threat to the lives of many innocent people,” said spokesperson Mpiyakhe Mkholo.
“The CRL Rights Commission condemns all these forms of attacks or killings meted against the religious leaders, and members of the different faith communities,” he said.
“The commission calls upon the police and other law enforcement agencies to find and punish the perpetrators of these despicable acts and thereby assist the families to get justice for their loved ones.”
He added that the commission will also be facilitating an “urgent” engagement with various stakeholders within the religious communities to discuss the brazen attacks.
Last year, thousands of disgruntled members of the International Pentecost Holiness Church (IPHC) took to the streets of Pretoria, denouncing alleged harassment by “rogue” members of the South African Police Service (SAPS).
The perpetual harassment and targeting of the IPHC’s Jerusalem faction members, including its leader “Successor” Michael Sandlana, was a well-orchestrated campaign linked to what was an ongoing high-stakes three-way court wrangle for the ultimate leadership of the popular church, according to spokesperson Priest Vusi Ndala.
“We believe that not all police officers are rogue, but there are those who are captured. They are scaring us. There are many incidents at our headquarters at Jerusalem where police cars just come there in a convoy to intimidate us. We have CCTV footage.”
IOL