Five members gunned down in church power struggle

IN WHAT terrified residents of Zuurbekom, west of Johannesburg, have described as an unholy war, machine gun-wielding men laid siege to members of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC) as they slept in their beds on Friday night at their church.

It is believed that the gunmen, allegedly hired by a rival church group, arrived in a bus and crashed through the gate where they entered the premises and started shooting randomly.

Police said five people were killed. Spokesperson Vishnu Naidoo said: “About five people were killed while six were wounded.”

Police also confirmed that 34 firearms, among them five rifles, 16 shotguns and 13 pistols were seized and that 40 people were arrested.

Among those arrested were members of the SAPS, SANDF, Joburg Metro Police Department, and the Department of Correctional Services.

“It is not clear what role those members of the security forces played. We do not know what they were doing on the scene.

“However, they will be given the opportunity to clarify what their role was at the scene,” Naidoo added.

A video of charred bodies next to burnout cars in a field opposite the church residence was circulating on social media, and it is alleged that the voices in it and those shooting the scenes were the gunmen themselves.

IPHC’S chairperson of the executive committee Wessi Abie alleged that the attackers are members of a splinter group that emerged after the death in 2016 of the church leader, Comforter Glayton Modise. Glayton took over the church after his father, Frederick Modise, who was the founder of IPHC, died in 1998.

Glayton’s death threw the church into a three-way leadership dispute between his sons Leonard Modise and his older brother Tshepiso Modise, both vying for control, including a Reverend Michael Sandlana, said to be

Glayton’s son from another woman, leading another group, thrown into the mix.

Leonard is the leader of the faction head-quartered in Zuurbekom, where the killings took place.

“These people came here because they wanted to do a takeover in our headquarters. We called the police to come and save us. Indeed, police came and disarmed them,” said Abie.

“This leadership battle is at the high court, and we must push that the matter be resolved finally. We also want to reinforce security to make sure that this does not happen again. Our law enforcement agencies must work hard to arrest these people.”