The Healing Pentecostal Church at Ha-Mangilasi in the Vuwani area was dealt a hammer blow early last Friday morning, when suspected arsonists set fire to the store room and destroyed equipment to the value of thousands of rands.

The church was founded by Pastor Ndikandafhi Makhuvha of Shayandima. He is also the founder the New Life After Prison Community Forum in Thohoyandou, an organisation that takes care of released prisoners.

In the fire, musical equipment, sofas, paint and a bed to the value of more than R50 000 were completely ruined. Pastor Makhuvha said he was asleep at home when he received a call from neighbours of the church, who told him the church was on fire.

“I immediately phoned the police while at the same time rushing to the church. On our arrival, we found many people had gathered and the police were already there. Smoke was still billowing and nothing was saved from the store room. Fortunately, the church was not affected. We are just praising God for having protected his own building and that the damage was minimal,” he said.

Makhuvha said he was very worried because it took the church a long time to collect the money to buy the equipment. They do not know where they will get money to replace it.

“This is a terrible blow to the church. We have lost in minutes what we had accumulated over a period of time. We heard that it was petrol bombed through a window. People who did this are not strangers to this church. They know the surrounding and they knew exactly what they wanted. We have put everything in the hands of God and hope the police will make a breakthrough soon,” said Makhuvha.

Limpopo police spokesperson Col Ronél Otto said they were investigating the case. "At this stage, the cause of the fire is unknown and our forensic unit is combing the scene. We hope that the results of the investigation will shed light as to what could have started the fire," she said.