A mosque in Bishop Lavis has been vandalised TWICE in ONE night.
Masjid-Ul-Izza in Melba Road was first stoned on Sunday just before 9pm, and later there was an attempted break-in just after 4am on Monday.
Pastor Wesley Moodley, secretary of the Bishop Lavis Religious Leaders Forum, confirmed the incidents and says a group of stoute laaities are behind the acts of
vandalism.
“With the first incident, the imam notified us the mosque was stoned. Youth as young as eight-years-old are involved,” he says.
“They stoned the mosque from the one side. At prayer time they want to tax patrons of the mosque for looking after their cars.
“We then went to see the parents of the children involved.”
HIT: A group of laaities stoned a window of mosque
He believes the attempted burglary at the mosque to be a retaliation for piemping the laaities to their families.
“At 4.30am, I got a call again, this time an attempted burglary. The people involved had cut the electrical wires and jumped over into the premises of the mosque.
“They tried to break into the mosque by breaking a window but the burglar bars are in good condition and they couldn’t enter. When the alarm went off, they fled,” Moodley says.
The pastor says the young thugs are in need of positive influences.
“We need to look at intervention and place these boys in our cadet diversion programme to assist them accordingly,” he says.
“We condemn this type of behaviour in the strongest sense. The mosque opened a case with SAPS.
“The saddest thing is the mosque does so much for the community.
“We ask the public to work with us and come forward so we can help these children now,” Moodley added.
SMASHED: Shattered glass inside the mosque
Imam Hamied Pretorius could not be reached for comment due to meetings.
Police spokesperson, Mihlali Majikela said: “Bishop Lavis has no record of the incident.”