Local church leaders have intensified security during prayer services and called on congregants to make online donations rather than in person, as violent criminals target religious gatherings.
Following the recent spate of robberies at churches in the country, Reverend Cyril Pillay, the pastor at the Peoples Church of God in Chatsworth and Chairperson of the Spiritual Crime Prevention Forum (SAPS, Chatsworth), said: “Religious institutions have become easy targets. Make the safety and security of churches a must and urge parishioners to use online platforms to donate monies rather than cash being exchanged at services.”
Pillay said some of the steps they had taken over the years included having a dedicated safety and security department which managed their CCTV cameras, and on site security personnel who monitored the church and car park during services.
Dr Paul Lutchman, who leads Christian Revival Centre, in Chatsworth, said unemployment was driving desperation in communities, leading to increased crime.
“To counter this we need to safeguard the entrances to our churches. We need to have alarm systems where a number of people have panic buttons so that in the event of a robbery, these can be used to get assistance fast.
“And we need to use more online and EFT methods for cash donation payments. These are some of the steps we have taken recently that have helped us improve our security. The reality is crime is with us, wherever we are. The levels of violence are unacceptable. But, in the case of a robbery at our church we will not resist. We rather lose something material over a life,” said Lutchman.
Pastor Giet Khosa, Secretary General of the International Federation of Christian Churches, said the organisation would meet to develop a campaign to tackle the robberies.
“As an organisation, we are looking at ways that we can respond to this. Crime is a problem in our country in general. Because churches are community based we are bound to be affected by it. We hear of more and more attacks, even incidents that don’t make news headlines.
“We want to encourage our churches to adopt a police station in their communities. Together we can identify hotspots for crime and encourage and empower our communities to report crime. We also want to encourage keeping less cash on church premises. There are many ways to do online payments and card payments. Lastly, we already have security in our churches, but we need to up our game in terms of vigilance,” said Khosa.
Colonel Athlenda Mathe, SAPS spokesperson, said through Operation Shanela - which involved, among others, collaboration between the SAPS, Metro Police departments, CPFs and private security - one of the focus areas was the combating aggravated robberies.
“Operation Shanela is characterised by regular stop and searches, vehicle checkpoints, roadblocks, cordon and searches, high visibility patrols, foot patrols, and tracing of wanted suspects. Since the launch of Operation Shanela this year more than 213 000 suspects have been arrested. We encourage people to be extra vigilant and report any suspicious activities.”
In the past month alone, Pastor Dwayne Gordon was killed and two others wounded during a robbery at the Eagle Christian Centre in Newlands, Johannesburg, during a live service.
– A 13-year-old boy was assaulted during a robbery by four armed men at a church in Pretoria. The suspects took money, cellphones, jewellery and the church laptop.
– In Linden, Gauteng, a church congregation was robbed of their cellphones and money during a service.
– Earlier this year armed men robbed the Emmanuel Community Church in Spring Place, Tea Estate, Verulam. Congregants were robbed of their possessions and the criminals made off with church equipment, some appliances and a vehicle.
Deon Govender, spokesperson for the church, said since the attack donations had helped them put up a fence, a driveway gate and burglar-guards on the windows. They also installed CCTV cameras.
“We have been promised a sponsorship for burglar gates for our veranda area. It’s not the ideal, but it’s the only way we can try to stay safe. We also urge precaution with the congregants, like not wearing your expensive jewellery or carrying big amounts of monies to church, for example where some people may plan to pay their accounts or do shopping after church,” he said.