MBOMBELA – This is after Alfred Matumbu confessed to Lowvelder on December 18 that he had burned down the Divine Hope Community Church in Masoyi the week before.
Matumbu stated that he had done this after his girlfriend had taken his seven-year-old son away from him.
The church was burned to ashes. Police opened a case of malicious damage to property and arson. The estimated damage to the church was worth over R70 000.
The paper met with Matumbu at Wimpy Crossing.
He said he had attempted to get the pastors of the church, which his ex-girlfriend attended, to listen to his story so he could reconcile with her. “They refused to listen to my side of the story. This made me so angry. One of the pastors said I must leave or there would be big trouble. This is what triggered me.”
He said his ex-girlfriend had refused him access to his son. “So I went that day to her house. She does not live far from the church.
“I sat watching my son from the other side of the road. I thought about how the church had evildoers who were influencing her. These people are not Christians.”
He added that he then walked over to the church. “This was already in the early hours of the morning. I got through an open window. They didn’t have burglar bars. I heaped up all the flammable items. They had carpets that I knew would burn easily. I piled the chairs and everything I could find in the one corner of the church and I set it alight. I then walked outside and crossed the road and watched it burn to the ground.”
He had also told Lowvelder that he wanted to kill his child and his ex as he saw no future for himself.
Matumbu was arrested at the restaurant.
The matter was postponed to January 16 for further investigation. He remains in custody.
