Thieves Steal 120-Year-Old Items From Church In Cape Town. The Lutheran Church in Cape Town has become victim to thieves.
The Lutheran Church in Cape Town has recently become victim to thieves. The thieves have stolen a pulpit and precious religious relics. Along with the pulpit, the thieves have been known to have stolen a brass communion set from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Belgravia in Athlone and they have also taken an engraved brass baptism bowl.
The Dean of the Lutheran Church in Western Cape, Pastor De Vries Bock, says some of the things that were stolen were over 120 years old and they cost worth R200 000. They saw that some of the items were missing on Sunday. Pastor De Vries Bock says, “We noticed that the first items were missing last Sunday, and when I opened the church on Wednesday morning, the other items were also gone.” The church had just given a safe space for some people, which involves 85 children that were moved after a fire took down a number of shacks at an informal settlement. The Dean of the Lutheran Church in the Western Cape says this is disheartening as they have been providing shelter to people in the past weeks.
“It is not only a setback to heritage and religious traditions of the church, but disheartening knowing that the church, just in the past weeks, opened its doors to the displaced people of the Vlei and was instrumental in mobilising much needed aid and support for over 800 people. The church also used its premises to provide emergency relief to the community,” says the pastor. Pastor De Vries Bock says that there were no clues of forceful entry into the area, he says the person just walked in. “These people came specifically for these items. The sound system and the speakers are out in the open, but they didn’t steal these,” says the pastor.
by Alexandra Ramaite
