Feud blamed for bloody church attack
● A shattered gate and clothes strewn across the street testified to the bloody attack at the International Pentecostal Holiness Church in Zuurbekom, west of Johannesburg, in which five congregants were killed and one critically wounded.
Survivors of the raid in the early hours of yesterday morning, including the chair of the church’s executive council, Abiel Wessie, said the attackers targeted specific people.
Police arrested 40 suspects, among them members of the police, metro police, correctional services and military.
Wessie, who described the assault as a military-style operation, was among 50 people who were sleeping at the church.
He said the attackers, who arrived in more than 10 vehicles and a fully loaded bus, stormed the premises and started shooting.
“We heard the gate being run over and knew that we were under attack. Everyone started to run and find a hiding place while those men kept on calling out specific people they wanted in the church,” Wessie told the Sunday Times.
Some of the congregants managed to call the police.
The bus that the gunmen used was still parked outside the church gate yesterday.
After its leader died in 2016, the International Pentecostal Holiness Church split into three factions, each with its own leader operating from separate centres in Gauteng and North West. It is believed that feuding between congregations sparked the attack.
Wessie blamed members of a breakaway congregation for the attack. “We saw some of
them and recognised their voices,” he said.
A church security guard, who asked not to be named, said he set off a siren to alert the congregants that they were under attack after he heard the gate being smashed.
He said that as he walked towards the entrance to find out what was happening, a group of about 10 men wearing orange reflectors walked in and said all was in order.
“I was surprised because I could see that they were not part of us,” he said. The men then asked him where specific church elders were, he said.
“They were just shooting all over the place,” he said. “It felt like a nightmare, I still can’t believe what happened here. Our lives were basically in their hands.”
Family members of those who were sleeping at the church rushed to the site when they heard about the shooting.
One of them, Maria Bogosi, said she was worried about her sister who left home on Thursday to volunteer at the church.
“Every time when she goes on leave she goes to the church and spends a few days there to help out … she helps with cleaning and some of the administration,” she said.
Police prevented Bogosi and others from entering the area yesterday because they were still taking statements from witnesses and gathering evidence.
“Her phone is off and we are not allowed to go in. I’m really worried about her,” Bogosi said.
Police spokesperson Brig Vish Naidoo said police were investigating the possibility that the attack was motivated by a feud between church members.
It felt like a nightmare. Our lives were basically in their hands