Warning for churches and churchgoers in South Africa
The Cultural, Religious and Linguistic (CRL) Rights Commission has warned that incidents of criminals targeting churches and their congregants continue to rise in South Africa.
It noted that criminals targeting congregants and clergymen is not a new phenomenon, but these crimes seem to be escalating.
Before carrying out armed robberies, criminals enter the church services by posing as worshippers.
They take advantage of the trusting and reverent atmosphere within the church, where congregants are deeply engrossed in their religious activities.
These criminals specifically target churches because cash offerings are frequently made, providing them with an easy opportunity to steal smartphones and wallets from unsuspecting worshippers.
The first warning of these criminal activities was raised at the end of last year when about 1,500 churches gathered and met with the Gauteng Community Safety MEC, Faith Mazibuko, regarding the alarming trend.
Churches reported an increase in criminal incidents, with congregants being robbed of their phones and money. Some cases even resulted in assault, kidnapping, and murder.
Alarmingly, cases seem to have continued into 2024, with these criminal elements specifically targeting evening sermons.
Throughout June, robberies have been reported during religious services in Cape Town and Pretoria.
The most recent incident occurred at Africa Evangelical Church, where attendees were gathering for a religious conference at a resort located north of Pretoria.
Armed individuals stormed the venue and demanded personal belongings from the congregants.
In Cape Town, there have been at least three reported church robberies in Goodwood in recent weeks.
Additionally, in Gugulethu, a pastor was robbed of his smartphone at gunpoint at the entrance to his church.
The incident was captured on the church’s live-streaming channel, showing two men wearing caps, face coverings, and blue latex gloves approaching the front of the hall, with at least one of them carrying a firearm.
Several congregants have reportedly sustained injuries.
While it appears as if churches are being specifically targeted, the rise in incidents is reflective of the worsening crime conditions in communities generally in South Africa.
South Africa has seen an increase in robbery, with some provinces experiencing a bigger jump in these crimes than others.
The South African Police Service’s (SAPS) latest quarterly crime states show that contact crimes (comes against another person) have increased by 3.8% in South Africa.
Contact crimes include common assault and robbery, murder, assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
This is of grave concern, as contact crime refers to crimes in which the victims are the targets of violence or instances where the victims are in the vicinity of property that criminals target and are subjected to the use of/or threats of violence by perpetrators, said the SAPS.
A subcategory of contact crimes is robbery with aggravating circumstances, which includes robbery at residential premises, listed under ‘Trio crimes’ – including carjacking and robbery at non-residential premises.
Robbery with aggravating circumstances has increased by 6.6% year on year.
Most of these crime incidents occur in the most populated provinces, such as Gauteng (35.8%), Kwa-Zulu Natal (16.8%), and Western Cape (16%).
Earlier this year, Reverend Cyril Pillay from the Chatsworth Spiritual Crime Prevention Forum strongly urged church leaders to take proactive measures to protect congregants from crime. “Don’t be so heavenly-minded that you have no earthly good,” he warned.
He noted that adequate security measures include turning to private security and CCTV setups, as well as encouraging churchgoers to leave their cellphones and purses/wallets at home when attending services.
Other religious leaders have suggested that churches should refrain from collecting money, such as through an offertory, and instead use electronic transfers to the church’s account.
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