'Seven Angels' Church to be demolished

File photo of the Police outside Mancoba Seven Angels Ministry at Ngcobo in the Eastern Cape.
File photo of the Police outside Mancoba Seven Angels Ministry at Ngcobo in the Eastern Cape.
Image: SAPS

Police Minister Bheki Cele says processes to demolish the Mancoba Seven Angels Ministries Church structures in Eastern Cape are already under way.

Cele's ministerial engagement was part of a follow-up meeting with the community affected by the massacre at the local police station where five police officers and a soldier were gunned down in February.

Seven suspects believed to have been involved in the Ngcobo police massacre were later killed in a shootout with police, after being cornered in the Mancoba Seven Angel's Ministries church in Nyanga village, which they used as a hideout.

Before Cele's address at Nyanga High School, the media spoke to some residents who all shared a common concern about when the church structures would be demolished.

Resident Happy Lwana said he believed that the pain and grief experienced by the families of the victims of the massacre would be eased if the structure was demolished.

"We have been through so much as the community of Ngcobo and our town is now known for bad things, we need to change that," said Lwana.

Cele said the demolition of the church structures would be facilitated.

"We will then take the petition to the relevant structures, like the municipality and the chiefs. In the not so distant future those structures that were harbouring the people who were out of order there, who call themselves angels, will be demolished," said Cele.

During the meeting, transport, safety and liaison MEC Weziwe Tikana said the department was waiting for the court order to effect the demolition.

Cele also visited the Mancoba household and met the mother of some of the suspects, Nombongo Mancoba, who told him she missed her "angels" as she called her sons.

"You know some stories can be scary and after hearing about the tragic events that unfolded here I was wary and scared to meet the mother, but you know I just see an ordinary woman who has also been shattered by the tragedy.

"She is in pain at the loss of her children andabout the police officers and soldier who died," said Cele.

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