Shocked members of St John’s Church in Mfuleni are still not sure what caused the fire which destroyed their church a fortnight ago.
The fire started in the church leader’s office before spreading to the rest of the building last Sunday afternoon.
Church member Limise Nomkebe said: “We didn’t have a service on Sunday because we were invited to other churches. The only people around when the fire started were those staying in the rooms on the church premises. They saw smoke coming out of the church leader’s office, and while they were still trying to investigate, a big fire started spreading to the church building.”
She said they tried to break open the locked doors, but the fire spread quickly and destroyed the entire church building and the office. “They couldn’t save anything inside. This is not the first time a fire has damaged the church property. A few years ago, we had two fire incidents here at the church, but the church building didn’t burn, it was only the houses on the church premises. We do not know what is causing these fires,” said Ms Nomkebe.
The church is happy that no one as injured and are now counting the cost of damages.
“We lost everything from books to chairs.What is left is for us to pick ourselves up and maybe there will be a Good Samaritan that can come in and give a donation,” she said.
A neighbour who only identified herself as Nokuphila sympathised with the church. She said it was not nice to rebuild and buy materials. “It should be devastating to the leader of the church and his congregants. I would not want to be at their feet. But we know God was there when it happened, I really feel for them,” she said.
When Vukani visited the church, there were people working on it, cleaning and taking the rubble away.
The church did not report the fire to authorities.
