- St Mary Magdalene Church in Gugulethu is in urgent need of funds to replace its aging, leaking asbestos roof before winter.
- The Covid-19 pandemic severely impacted church maintenance and congregant pledges, making it difficult to fund repairs.
- The church, known for its community outreach and historical significance, welcomes donations of money, vouchers, or building materials.
Leader of St Mary Magdalene Church in Gugulethu is appealing to any Samaritan who can assist the congregation in renovating its building to come forward.
Rev Canon Nobuntu Mageza described the state of the church roof as very bad. She stated that they are requesting funds to revamp the roof.
“We are struggling with funds to maintain the church. We used to do maintenance until Covid-19 hit hard. After the Covid-19 pandemic we were never able to do the overall maintenance of the church,” she explained, adding that the church only manages to fix small things like broken glass windows or change the door handles etc. She said almost the entire roof leaks when it is raining.
Mageza said their concern is the looming winter and the accompanying rain. She is worried that their church will turn into a pool.
“The roof leakages have damaged the ceiling, including the structure itself and the floor. Since the church was built in 1961, the roof has never been renovated and was made of asbestos. So, our wish is to change the whole roof (asbestos) and put on the zinc,” she said, adding that they can fundraise the money to build the ceiling, buy furniture and other staff as long as they have a new roof.
Mageza emphasised that the church depends on pledges from the congregants to remain operational.According to her, the number of congregants has dwindled since the Covid-19 outbreak and that has impacted the pledges.
Mageza described the church, which is known as kwaQabazi, as a community church, with various outreach programmes to uplift the community.
“This is a cornerstone of the community. We have programmes where we assist young people to apply for jobs and other things, visiting vulnerable people and sometimes we provide food parcels where it’s due,” said Mageza, adding that the church has a vast history as it was a hiding place for some of the activists during the apartheid era. She said some of the struggle steward held their meetings in the church.
She said it is not necessarily to be a monetary fund, it can be a voucher or buy the donor building material for them.
- Those who want to contribute can phone Mageza on 076 516 5882 or Maintenance Committee member Dineo Chetsane on 076 653 6266.