Cape Town - The New Apostolic Church Parkwood Central was the victim of copper theft.
Church administrator Keagan Daries said it was unclear when exactly the break-in took place, but would have occurred any time between Thursday and Saturday morning due to the limited activity within the church.
“Everything that had copper was stolen so the speakers were ripped out and the copper was taken out. All the copper in the toilet was taken out and that left the toilets in quite a flooded state. The decoder was also stolen and all the equipment required to broadcast an audio-visually transmitted service – all the cables related to that was also stolen.
“The organ crashed and was very badly damaged. We assume that the people who got into the church thought there would be valuable items or copper inside of the organ but there wasn't,” said Daries.
“The church has been burgled before and members have reached out to the community to keep an eye out and that is all that we can ask from our members. The church is deeply saddened and disappointed by what has happened but we always forgive and let the law take its course.
“As a church, we will still continue to assist our community and pray that the people living in the community as well as the church building are now protected by God and his angels’ protection.”
Police spokesperson Andrè Traut confirmed the incident and said the circumstances surrounding the break-in at the church was being investigated, with no arrests made at this stage.
Meanwhile, the Grassy Park Community Policing Forum has urged the community to refrain from buying any stolen goods.