Merebank temple feud turns ugly

Devotees allegedly locked out on Sai Baba’s birthday with the priest inside, as rival committee factions clash over control and finances

AN EIGHT-YEAR feud between two groups of temple committee members turned ugly last week when devotees were locked out of their place of worship.

The priest of the Shri Sivan Soobramoniar Alayam in Merebank was allegedly locked inside while devotees were locked outside when a group of members changed the locks.

Lenny Marimuthu, chair of the managing council, said members of the former council last Friday approached the temple with six police officers and changed the gate locks.

“They locked the house of God on an auspicious day, Sai Baba’s birthday, with the priest inside. I had to call the ethekwini Fire Department to help break the locks,” said Marimuthu at a public meeting. Questions have been raised on the non-disclosure of the temple’s financials since 2010 and the failure to hold annual general meetings. The temple is not registered as a non-profit organisation.

“Since the break-up of councils eight years ago, the temple’s bank account has been frozen. Money raised has been put into separate accounts. We are willing to make documents available and are preparing to hold an AGM after due processes are followed to elect a new council,” he said.

The power struggle of who will run the temple has been in the Durban High Court since 2010. It stemmed from an incident in 2010 when members of the temple called for the removal of the priest. But the priest refused, with some devotees supporting him. The matter has since been unfolding in court.

Claude Drumlingum, a member of the former council, said last year the Durban High Court ruled that both councils unite through a mediation process which the South African Tamil Federation (SATF) was called to oversee.

“We held elections last month and a new council was elected. On Tuesday we approached Marimuthu’s council for the handover and there was chaos. The priest chased away a woman and swore at her. We were advised by the SATF to change the locks on Friday. We went with police officers to prevent any violent outbreak,” said Drumlingum.

Marimuthu said there were “words exchanged” between the priest and the woman, and the priest had been provoked.

“We told the former council that if they withdraw their matter against our priest then we are ready to put everything on the table. They can take power until the AGM is held.”

SATF secretary, Richard Govender, said they were concerned about the future of the community.

“People are so consumed by power that they don’t understand that we need to tackle the real problems, like teenagers on drugs.”

Govender called for temples to re-look at their constitutions.

“We have many cases where temples are not registered as an NPO, and their documents are not made public. We need to clean this up.”