- Regina Mundi church in Soweto is closed for safety after a storm damaged its roof on Monday, 19 October, and members are looking for another place to worship.
- The church’s insurance will pay for repairs, but tourist guides fear their pay will drop because fewer tourists are visiting.
Regina Mundi church, one of Soweto’s historic churches, has been closed after a storm damaged its roof. Members have nowhere to worship, and the church’s tourist guides say their work is already suffering.
The storm hit Soweto on Monday, 19 October. It damaged the church’s roof and part of its ceiling.
Parish secretary Naomi Rakgomo said repairs have started and the church’s insurance will pay for them. She said the church is looking for another place to hold services.
She said no one can go inside the church because it is not safe, but visitors can still enter the parts used for tourism. She said the church has had no help from the government.
The church is still running its soup kitchen every Thursday for vulnerable people. A group called Saint Vincent also gives out clothes and food parcels once a month.
Asanda Phungula, 24, from Dlamini in Soweto, works as both a tourist guide and a cleaner at the church. She said no tourists came on Tuesday, 20 October, and only two came on Wednesday, 21 October. The church usually gets five or more a day, she said.
Phungula said she is worried her pay will drop. She and the other guide are paid from the tourism account, and their salaries were cut last year when fewer tourists visited.
Zakhele Ntuli, a church member who lives in Rockville, said Regina Mundi means more than a church. He said it has played an important role in the lives of people in Soweto, offering spiritual support and help for those in need. “Everyone here is welcomed,” he said.
Ntuli said he sees the church as his second home. He received his first communion and confirmation there, and belongs to a church group that visits the sick, supports struggling families and prays with those who have lost loved ones.
He said the damage will mostly affect people who go to Sunday Mass and services during the week while the church looks for another venue.
The Gauteng Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs told Scrolla.Africa that provincial and municipal disaster management centres have visited the church and other damaged buildings around Soweto.
These include Lancefield Hostel, Reutlwile Junior Secondary School, Vuwani Primary School, Jabulani Technical School and informal homes in Kliptown.
The department said it has arranged temporary accommodation for people displaced from the hostel, and City Parks has cut down trees and cleared debris. It said the human settlements department gave corrugated iron to repair the hostel.
It said the disaster centres are now providing blankets, plastic sheets for roofs and mattresses.
