Vandals prey on Hindu temple
Everything from bricks to water pipes and sacred ornaments carried away
Brick by brick the Sathie Sanmarka Sungum, a Hindu temple in Malabar, is being carried away by vandals.
What was once a vibrant religious site where residents could pop in for a warm cup of soup is now a building preyed on by criminals.
For the past two months, bricks have been carefully cut out from the perimeter wall and removed, and fencing, drop sails, burglar gates and water pipes stolen.
The devotees are heartbroken. Sacred ornaments and artificial jewels on the statues positioned at the alter have also since been stolen.
The temple is situated in Malabar Extension 6, and has been in existence for more than 25 years.
Nelson Mandela Bay Diwali Festival official and fire walker Sam Reddy, 37, has been a devotee at the temple since the age of nine.
Reddy said over the years the temple had to face serious challenges in the form of gangsterism and crime in the area.
He said even the box in which devotees placed donations had been stolen.
“They have stolen our lamps, our instruments that we use for services and even the artificial jewellery on the statues, thinking it was real jewels.
“You must remember the devotees that come to the temple are not well off, they live hand to mouth.
“So their donations really mean a lot,” he said.
Reddy said because of vandalism to the electricity box, at one stage religious services were unable to go ahead.
Another devotee, Laura Daya, said if vandals were not chopping up religious statues placed outside the temple, they were stealing bricks.
“They come in the yard and steal our fencing from around our fire pit area and they steal the sinks where we wash our big pots.
“This is our place of worship. It makes one despondent and it’s very heartbreaking when you go every Monday and Friday for services or when there are festivals and you see more and more damage is done,” Daya said.
Temple chair Navan Chetty said they had about 100 devotees, and while they had seen numerous break-ins over the years, the vandalism had become worse in the past two months.
“Last year, we opened a criminal case of housebreaking and theft when they stole and removed our main power box.
“That caused Malabar not to have lights for a few days because they chopped a main power cable.
“They removed our tools, washing lines and basins,” he said.
Chetty now hopes to install CCTV cameras as a deterrent but would need sponsorship to do so.
Because the culprits were unknown, Chetty said he had decided not to report a criminal case.
Municipal spokesperson Mthubanzi Mniki said the metro’s focus was municipal infrastructure and if a private building had been vandalised, it should be reported to the police.
However, Mniki said the metro condemned vandalism as it was a serious problem.
“Service delivery is affected so that is why we have a special vandalism committee that has a programme on [creating] awareness of this problem and effects of vandalism to service delivery,” he said.