Police vow to remove graffiti behind church
DISTASTEFUL graffiti on the mountainside behind the Mancoba Seven Angels Ministries church at Nyanga village near Ngcobo is to be removed.
Deputy national police commissioner Lieutenant-General Sehlahle Masemola told mourners at the funeral of slain police officer Nkosiphendule Pongco that police were working hard to eliminate the unwelcome graffiti on the mountain as part of an effort to dismantle the church.
Five officers and a soldier were shot dead in an armed attack on the Ngcobo police station last month.
Two days after the massacre, on February 23, the Angels Ministries premises were the scene of a gun battle when a special police task team raided the compound and shot dead seven people.
Police provincial spokesman Captain Khaya Tonjeni said, however, removal of the graffiti would be a slow process due to the mountainous terrain.
“We hope that by the next weekend we will be at an advanced stage of removing the writing,” he said.
Various religious groups have lambasted the inscriptions on the rocks on the mountainside overlooking the R61 road near Nyanga.
One of the phrases, written in isiXhosa, translates: “There will be no general elections in 2019 as God will take it upon Himself to be the authority.”
Others read: “Only fools will die” and “the end of 1 260 days, it’s the start of a new beginning”.
Erasing this graffiti forms part of a robust rehabilitation process on the go in Ngcobo that will include a cleansing ceremony involving all traditional faith organisations and Christian churches in the area.