22 Churches Flattened in a Week: A South African Metro Clears Congregations From Unoccupied Land

• Ekurhuleni metro police demolished 22 church structures in Thokoza, Palm Ridge and Greenfield
• About 12 were pulled down in Palm Ridge, near Katlehong, in one weekend
• Pastors said some churches had stood for more than 10 years and received no written notice
• The metro said verbal and then written notices had been served and ignored

Pastors in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, watched as metro police demolished about 12 church structures in Palm Ridge near Katlehong over a weekend, part of an operation that had flattened 22 churches in Thokoza, Palm Ridge and Greenfield, the Sowetan reported on April 16, 2018.

The Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department said the churches had been built illegally on unoccupied land. Pastor Buyile William Mngqikana, spokesman for the Christian Consultative Alliance, said the metro had not followed proper procedure. “There has been no proper communication or a written warning from the municipality,” he said. “Most of these churches have been here for over 10 years. All our hard work and donations have gone down the drain as they ruined our furniture and building material.”

He acknowledged that the churches stood on land occupied illegally but said the municipality should first have served written notices. “We will open a case against the municipality so as to be compensated for the confiscated and damaged property,” he said.

Metro police spokesman Kobeli Mokheseng said pastors were given verbal notices, then written ones, and ignored them. “People must understand that you cannot just identify an empty space and assume it’s right to use it for whatever reason you see applicable to yourself,” he said.

Jamaica has its own version of this problem: congregations that begin on captured land, invest members’ money in walls and roofs, and hope that time will make their occupation secure. The Ekurhuleni demolitions show the risk. Donations spent on a building on land the church does not own can be lost in an afternoon. Before building, a church should secure the land, whether by purchase, lease or formal allocation, and keep the paperwork.

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