A church is regarded as a holy place, characterised by peace and love. The Church of the Holy Ghost in Ha Mutsha was like a scene from a horror movie on Sunday.

Chaos ensued at the church's Hulelani branch in Ha Mutsha outside Makhado during the funeral of granny Tovhowani Grace Mulaudzi, who was a church deacon. This happened after an announcement was made during the funeral service that certain people would not be allowed inside the church premises.

The drama unfolded when several people, including the daughter of the deceased, Ndivhuho, her husband and well-known lawyer Hanyani Mabasa and other people who accompanied them were frogmarched out of the church. The shocking incident was witnessed by hundreds of people, some of whom were attending the funeral.

A group of fancily clothed men who were standing at the door were overheard saying that they were to use force to eject those who were not wanted. Some people suffered bruises and had their clothes torn during the ensuing scuffle.

The daughter, Ndivhuho Mabasa, is said to have a longstanding feud with the church because she had defected to join a breakaway church. The rivalry persisted for many years until the death of her mother.

Some are claiming that the mother spoke of reconciliation just before her death, but church members seem not to have followed her wish.

For some time, the once peaceful church premises became an embarrassing scene, with some sprawled on the ground after being manhandled by the mob. After they were taken out of the churchyard, the burly men guarded the main gate and screened each mourner entering the premises.

The “outcasts” had gone to the nearest satellite police station at Ha Mutsha in the meantime to seek protection. Before laying charges, they came back to the church under police guard as they wanted to attend the service, but some members were against it and they left.

After opening  cases of assault, those who were allegedly attacked went with the police to the cemetery at Muledane, some many kilometres away from the church.

An ugly scene nearly developed at the gate when those attacked pointed out people who had manhandled them. The victims pointed out some of the suspects, some of whom also admitted to having assaulted them but the police could not arrest any of them.

The situation turned volatile when members of the church surrounded the police and told them to their faces that they would not arrest any of their members. To avoid a nasty situation, police let the suspects go free, promising to investigate further. The actions of the church members were widely condemned by those who were left outside the yard.

A senior local municipality official who had attended the funeral said the actions of the unruly members were uncalled for. “This is place of reconciliation; we all belong to one God, irrespective of which church one belongs. I feel it is unfair not to allow a daughter of the granny the chance to bury her mother, no matter the differences they might have had,” he said.

A Maphangwa family member said his late father would have fainted upon seeing police at the church. Maphangwa is the late leader and one of the founders of the church in the area.

One of those outside the church who witnessed the nasty incident remarked that: “Today I have seen Satan himself with a big tail,” referring to the act of using violence to take people out of a funeral. Another one joined in: "He was having a big fork in his hands.”

Hanyani Mabasa, the deceased's mother-in-law, said his wife was bitter after being not afforded the chance to see her mother for the last time. He showed this paper a copy of the letter he had written to Derek Wright, the lawyer for the church, requesting permission to attend the funeral service inside the church premises.

In the letter, he appealed to the church to allow the woman to pay her last respects to her mother on humanitarian grounds. In its response, the church said:” Our instructions are that the church has no comment on the aforesaid letter and that this matter is purely a family one, which should be sorted out between family members.”

The leader of the church, Solly Sibisi, who was there at the funeral, refused to comment, saying he did not see anything. Police spokesperson W/O Solly Mukhola of the Levubu police confirmed the incident. “There was a fight when one party did not want another party to attend the funeral,” he said.

He said one count of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and one count of common assault were opened. He said the suspects were still at large.

Some people who had come from Johannesburg who had also been allegedly assaulted said they could not lay charges, because it would be costly to come back for the court case.