Durban: Pastors from a consortium of more than 300 churches have dismissed allegations on social media that they bought a young woman’s silence.
The pastors, from the ABC Forum of Churches, handed over a car to Zandile Mthembu on Friday after her vehicle was torched during the recent unrest in Phoenix.
The 24-year-old, of KwaMashu, was allegedly attacked while driving on the Phoenix Highway on July 12. She was on her way to pick up her grandmother's medication from Osindisweni Hospital in Verulam.
Members from the church forum heard what had happened to her on the news, and they decided to give her a Nissan Micra.
Pastor Justin Naidoo, a representative of the forum, said he felt that the gesture would serve as an olive branch to Mthembu and others to foster peace and reconciliation.
He said he and his wife thought of ways to help Mthembu while the incident was being investigated.
“We then decided to contact a few pastors in our forum network in Durban,” said Naidoo of Johannesburg.
He said they decided to buy her a car and residents who heard about the goodwill also chipped in to assist.
Naidoo said he contacted Mthembu and told her of their intention.
“She sounded scared and she told me she did not know if I was joking.”
Last Wednesday, Naidoo and his wife drove to Durban. The following day, he met Mthembu and the father of her child for lunch. They met again on Friday to hand over the keys to her new car.
“Zandile has two cases opened with the SAPS, which are being investigated, outside of our gesture of reconciliation. We, like the rest of the community, welcome the investigations and believe that anyone found to be on the wrong side of the law must be held accountable.
“We believe deep introspection is needed in order to begin the process of building trust, healing wounds and bringing about true reconciliation.”
Pastor Joseph Govender, from the forum, said the donation was a step of restitution and that they did not buy Mthembu’s silence.
“I don’t think anybody in the human race whether black, white, Indian or coloured should be treated unfairly. We helped her because we wanted her to look at humanity in a different light and understand that not everyone is as bad as the people who hurt her. Those few bad people do not represent every Indian person.”
Govender said although they could not reach out to everyone, they hope that the gesture sent a message that people were not the same.
“There is no way we could buy her silence ... If she could identify those people who hurt her, we would support her.”
During the handover, Mthembu said she did not hate anyone and that she knew that not all people were bad.
“While I was escaping from the attack, I came across two Indians who risked their lives and took me to a place of safety ... I know that not everyone is racist or bad ... I do believe that this is a right step to a journey of unity and building relationships for our communities to become one,” Mthembu said.
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