PICTURE: PHIRI CAWE
While South Africans marked a National Day of Prayer on Sunday May 31, the City2City Mission Outreach Church held a special prayer to acknowledge the role played by Mfuleni Police during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The church said the SAPS, like the health workers and other “frontliners” were in dire need of divine intervention.
Singing, dancing, carrying flags of different countries, they thanked the police for having done a “wonderful job” in the fight not only against crime but the deadly coronavirus.
Pastor Colin Rosendal said he was sure that the continent would be free from the virus and challenged the community to assist police by obeying the rules during this unprecedented time.
He commended and praised the police for carrying out their duties with a sense of accountability. “We are here to commend our police officers for doing a good job
in dealing with the virus in the Western Cape.
“We believe they deserve praise because their intervention was very successful so far and a number of lives have been saved. Sometimes they are at risk of being subjected to all sorts of things including violence. Today we are here to pray for them and acknowledge their sterling work,” he said.
Mfuleni police station commander Colonel Tinus Swarts praised President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call for people to come together in prayer and to involve religious leaders as the world faces the devastation of Covid-19.
“I welcome what happened here on the day. We welcome everything that encourages us to work and those who appreciate our work.
“This station is built on the pillars of religion. You cannot fight crime by your own talent alone, you need the powers from above. That people came and prayed for us and said good things, we welcomed them with open arms,” he said.
Colonel Swarts said he was also happy that his station had complied with the restrictive regulations which governed the lockdown. “We stick to social distancing even in our parades. Our community knows that (when they come here they must maintain a) 1.5m distance and have masks. We do things the right way because Covid-19 is our enemy,” he said.
Mfuleni resident Mthuthuzeli Ntwanambi commended the church for taking time to pray for police, something he believed didn’t often happen. “We all need to give credit where it is due. We have never as a community come to police and applauded their work but we always report the bad they do. I am touched by what I saw today. With all the bad press police endured, today they are praised. May this happen even in other areas,” he said.
The church moved from the police station to Kuils River Hospital and promised to go to other places as well, including Khayelitsha hospital.