Church members beat up guard over water
School security says congregants hit him when he told them to stop wasting water
A school patroller is nursing wounds after he was assaulted, allegedly by churchgoers, when he told them not to use tap water to baptise themselves.
He told them they were wasting water against the school rules but the pastor said he was being disrespectful.
“They almost broke my arm,” said Thomas Chauke, 34, yesterday. “I can’t do anything with my arm.”
Chauke alleged that he was assaulted by Jerusalema of God church members who were baptising themselves from a school tap in Tembisa.
Chauke said members of the church, who use one of the Ekurhuleni West College’s classrooms for their services, wasted water by opening taps and baptising congregants.
“They know the rules of the school and they are not allowed to waste water.”
Chauke said he approached the pastor and congregants “and they said they have been waiting for me to come and disrespect them”.
When he returned to the guardhouse, “they followed me ... [and] assaulted me with their church sticks”.
Chauke said he had been unable to use his arm following the incident.
Sibangilizwe Ndlovu, who owns another church that also uses one of the school classrooms for its services, condemned the incident.
“We all know the rules and we are not allowed to waste water. We baptise our members in rivers.
“Should we need to use water in the church we bring it in bottles. I do not support what they did. The Bible does not allow us to take off our jackets and fight. What they did is not right,” he said.
Two people were arrested and charged and police said they were expected to appear in court again this week.