Renovations to west church damaged in protests completed
“It has been a long and exhausting journey to replace what was damaged to the property."
Renovations to the Nederduitsch Reformed Church Wes-Moot have been fully completed after it was damaged by protesters from Gomorrah informal settlement in April 2019.
Rudi Botha, who has preached at the church for more than 25 years, said that the pulpit, church benches, curtains and windows were damaged in the protest.
About R480 000 was spent to repair the damaged church in the west of Pretoria.
A thanksgiving dedication service took place to re-open the church’s doors last year in September.
“It has been a long and exhausting journey to replace what was damaged to the property. A lot of the work was done by members of the church and the insurance fully paid out which we are grateful for,” he said.
Botha added that community members from Pretoria West as well as churches in the immediate vicinity offered their help.
“Covid-19 posed many challenges to us and to the community. We are just thankful for all the support we received in order to restore the damage that was caused during the protest,” he said.
Community activist and one of the founding members of Angels in Need, Johan Cloete said that the building suffered a great loss and serious damage was inflicted to it.
“We started cleaning up the building and repainting it soon after the protest,” he said.
“The broken windows were also restored. Church benches were removed and the building was re-carpeted.
“All of our windows were broken and the curtains burned, but are busy rising from the ashes,” he said.
“It’s taking a while, but we are getting there.
“The congregation launched ongoing fundraising actions to help us to do the much-needed repairs.”
He said they needed furniture to decorate their student accommodation on the same premises.
“However, the past few months have been financially tough on all of us. We shared with those who had little,” Cloete said.
“During the restoration process, our food cupboards were also neglected and we would like to fill them up in order to be able to give.
“Angels in Need is a non-profit organisation and we try to help the needy in every possible way we can.
“I get up to almost 10 phone calls a day from people asking for necessities.
He urged the community to assist them in any way they can to provide food for the needy.
“The organisation is in need of non-perishable foods. We provide bread to the needy every Sunday, and there has not been a day that has gone by that the Lord has not provided for us,” Cloete said.
For any contributions, Cloete can be reached on 072-509-7647.
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