Africa-Press – Eswatini. Two churches were burnt to the ground in Matsapha, Ndzevane area on Tuesday night.
The two churches, Restoration Christian Centre and Apostolic Church are located at a Dlamini homestead adjacent Kwaluseni Inkhundla.
The reason behind the arson attack remains unknown but it is suspected that it was related to land disputes.
Xolani Dlamini, who was found at the homestead yesterday said they were shocked by the incident.
Narrating the events leading to the shocking discovery, Dlamini said on Tuesday night he went to a neighbouring homestead to play betting games with some of his relatives.
While he was with his relatives, Dlamini said he received a call from his uncle informing him that there was fire in the compound where he stays. He said when he went out to investigate, he saw a huge ball of fire engulfing the Restoration Christian Centre church.
“I ran to call the others I was with at to help me go and extinguish the fire, which quickly spread to the nearby Apostolic Church.
worried
We then ran for help and tried to extinguish the fire with water but our efforts were futile,” Dlamini stated. He said they called the Fire and Emergency Services Department, who were prompt as they arrived within a few minutes.
While waiting for the fire department, Dlamini said he was worried that the fire would spread to the rest of the compound as it spread quickly as it was headed to the main house.
Fortunately the fire and emergency personnel were able to extinguish the fire, but it was rather a little bit too late to save the churches, according to Dlamini.
He had no idea who burnt down the structures and why they did so.
Dlamini, when asked if the attacks were related to a land dispute as claimed by some people from the area, he said there was a family dispute related to land within the family but did not think this was the cause.
“In every family there are disputes in ours we have a land issue, which we are dealing with to the extent that it had even been addressed at umphakatsi,” he said.
challenges
However, Dlamini said he did not have an idea why anyone would want to burn the churches, as they did not have anything to do with the challenges they faced at family level.
Restoration Christian Centre Pastor, Zama Magagula, said they were equally shocked by the burning of the church.
Pastor Magagula was, however, reluctant to commit himself on the reasons behind the arson attack, saying he could not speculate even though he had his own suspicions.
Instead, he preferred not to delve much further on the matter as it was under police investigations.
The soft-spoken pastor said he did not want to point fingers at anyone, as according to him the suspects were still unknown. He said as a church, they had suffered an immeasurable loss, their house of worship. Pastor Magagula said they lost instruments, decorations and furniture amounting to E60 000.
He added that they were now without a place of worship and placed his faith in the Lord on where they would congregate after their structure was burnt. He was hopeful that good Samaritans would come through for them.
The Apostolic Church leader, identified as Pastor Simelane could not be reached for comment at the time of compiling the article.
The burning of the two churches comes barely a month after another church, Mahamba Methodist Church Eswatini was burnt down by unknown people on June 30. The breakaway Mahamba Methodist Church leadership at that time made it clear that the burning of the church at Nsongweni would not deter them.
Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent, Phindile Vilakati, confirmed that police were investigating a case of arson in Matsapha, whereby two churches were burnt down. Vilakati said there were no arrests made so far.
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