Devotees fighting to save temple
DEVOTEES fear losing their connection to the divine if their temple in Tongaat is demolished.
The flock of faithful at the Shri Soobramaniar Draupathiamman Kovil in Belvedere, Tongaat are defending their “haven for miracles” in the face of a councillor’s call to bulldoze the 20-year-old building.
A representative for the temple, May Peters Kistiah, said it was built on municipal land with the verbal go-ahead from a previous councillor.
Kistiah said, “Everything was fine until recently, when the current Ward 58 councillor, Geoff Pullan, said he was going to have the structure demolished.”
Kistiah said Pullan told her over the phone of his intention to have the land used for recreation.
“You can’t go to somebody’s place of worship and demolish it. They don’t know our culture and the struggle we’ve been through,” Kistiah reasoned.
Pullan denied saying he would destroy the temple, but voiced his displeasure at the illegal occupation of municipal land.
“They don’t have a lease, so it’s illegal,” he said. “They’ve also put the structure in the middle of the park, which means that no one can use the space for anything else and it’s a public place.
“They’ve put a fire-walking pit there. They should have dug a trench, done the firewalk, then filled the trench.”
A long-serving temple devotee, Gonaseelan Chetty, 33, was angered by Pullan’s claims.
Chetty has been attending religious events at the temple for 18 years and describes the small building as a haven of miracles.
“Every year I fire-walk. It’s because of my prayers at the temple that I’m free from an old drug addiction problem and I have a job abroad.”
Chetty travels from the US to South Africa every year to pray at the temple.
“If the temple is gone, I won’t have anywhere to go. It’s my place of worship,” he said.
The Tongaat Civic Association’s Vigie Padayachee is aware of the situation.
“We are trying to meet the head of Parks and Recreation, Thembinkosi Ngcobo, who confirmed he would delegate an official to deal with the matter,” she said.
A municipal official, who could not be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media, confirmed that for the temple structure to remain in place, temple officials would need to conclude a legal agreement with the municipality.
Kistiah is determined to escalate the matter to national government level.
The South African Hindu Maha Sabha and the ethekwini Municipality did not respond to queries by the time of going to press.