Pretoria – The Mamelodi Baptist Church, home to displaced flood victims since December, says it has put special measures in place to stay open despite the coronavirus outbreak.
This follows president Cyril Ramaphosa’s declaration of a state of national disaster due to the number of infected rising in South Africa. Gatherings of over 100 people in one venue have been temporarily banned by government, amid other measures to curb the spread of the disease.
In a statement, the church said it would, among other measures, host two different sessions each Sunday with less than 100 attendees per session, and that flood victims would be relocated to another building on the property.
Pastor Thembelani Jentile said a plan had been devised to “temporarily move all the flood victims who are still in the church main building to the crèche building while we engage authorities about their permanent relocation”.
About 1300 people were displaced when more than 700 shacks were destroyed by floods in December at the Eerste Fabrieke informal settlement in Mamelodi, east of Pretoria. Over 200 displaced people are reportedly still sheltered at the church.
The church board met this week to discuss Ramaphosa’s declaration, made in terms of the Disaster Management Act.
“Our church membership is way above 100 people and we are currently hosting the Mamelodi flood victims who stay at church. The church is also aware that unavoidable small gatherings such as weddings and funerals dictate that we put in place stringent measures of prevention and control,” said Jentile.
He said the church had established a command team consisting of all the health practitioners on its books.
“There are a few members from each department added to the team. This team will update the board on a weekly basis and update the pastor daily on developments around the virus. To keep the church operational, [we will have] at least two sessions per Sunday with a maximum of 100 congregants,” said Jentile.
“The ushers and worship team will be engaged on Friday. Subsequent to that they will be given safety gear and sanitisers. The church board is aware that opening the church building doors at this time is a risk. Therefore this decision can be changed at anytime as the church receives updates from the command team and the government,” he said.
Ramaphosa was on Thursday meeting religious leaders in Pretoria to reinforce the national response to Covid-19.
The latest update from the World Health Organisation (WHO), dated Wednesday, said there were 191 127 confirmed cases globally.
The virus was detected in Wuhan, China, in December. More than 7 800 people have lost their lives to the disease, which is a respiratory infection.
The WHO declared the disease a pandemic last week.
African News Agency/ANA
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