THE Head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT), Bishop Dr. Alex Malasusa has cautioned fellow church members at Mbagala Zakhem on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam city not to react in desperation following the religious skirmishes whereby their church fell a victim after it was attacked and ravaged by rowdy Muslims on Friday afternoon this week. Dr. Malasusa gave the concern when he toured the church three weeks ago in Dar es Salaam to see for himself the damages caused by rowdy Muslims who stormed into a church and made away with valuable properties in what was described as protesting the desecration of the Holy Quran book which was done by juvenile aged 14 years old on Wednesday this week. He arrived at the church compound at around 08.45 am and was received by fellow church members led by their Shepherd Frank Kimambo who had gathered inside the church in grief stricken mood singing various hymns while others crying in painful over the great misfortune which has befallen their church. I arrived at the place that morning just few minutes before the arrival of the Bishop and found the extensive number of church members and other prayers most of whom women who turned the compound like a mourning place with nobody ever tried to stop them. The atmosphere at the church was very tense and looked like a funeral place as everybody could not believe what was seen inside. Windows were smashed and at the podium were full of pieces of broken glasses, wooden chairs set to fire, loud speakers put on the walls were all removed and had their speakers plus twitters taken away by attackers. “Just to evaluate in quick calculations, may be this is not thousands but millions of shillings loss, it could be over 30 to 40 millions loss worth of properties”, says a regular player at the church who identified himself as Justine Mlache. He said in an exclusive interview at the scene which was packed by people walking around the church to see the destruction of properties and wondered how the attackers took the law in their hands in order to make their mischief through as though the government is on leave.
The head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT), Bishop Dr. Alex Malasusa conducting a special mass infront of the Mbagala based church which was damaged by rowdy Muslims. This was before the church was attacked in recent religious clashes.
The church is among the biggest with the capacity to accommodate approximately or over 500 prayers at a time in that area alone. People had flocked to see the place which had so many things damaged like ceiling electric fans which have been left dangling from their positions, seemingly the attackers found it difficult to remove them. Other things were found to have been left scattered on the floor, and this shows that, the attackers were thoroughly searching one thing after the other at the place before could get anything valuable to disappear away with. Very astonishing to note is the presence of the a saloon car with the registration number T551 BXE belonging to the church’s shepherd, Frank Kimambo which is packed outside in the courtyard, this was not easily recognized , one might think that it was their target immediately when the attackers managed to enter into a compound. A spot check at the scene can tell that, the car was ruthlessly ransacked and had its most important parts chopped off by attackers, these includes a spare tyre, a car radio, sight mirrors, full headlights as well as hind lights. One might wonder as to how the attackers managed to open the bonnet of the car which at the time of the Dr Malasusa’s departure from the place was still left wide open. Before he departed, Dr. Malasusa said in an exclusive interview with The Guardian on Sunday that, the church will tell the public and the government later as it was too early to put it clear when everybody is extremely shocked. “Give us time as we are going to evaluate the losses and the damage caused and give the report to the general public later and not now” he said adding that at the moment the church is going to discuss with the secretaries of all churches in Dar es Salaam city and after which a statement will be issued to inform the general public. Cornered by this writer, some eye witnesses said that, they were amazed to see hundreds of angry people most of whom youths believed to be Muslims who stormed the compound of the church armed with some traditional weapons and some carrying iron bars and managed to force through the gate of the church compound. “The rowdy attackers smashed open the door of the church and stoned the packed car at the courtyard in the absence of the security guards who at that time had run away leaving the premises alone, thus the attackers used the opportunity to take whatever they liked without resistance”. Said one witness who preferred anonymity. Another witness told this paper in strict condition of anonymity that, the police were to blame over the matter as they failed to turn up quickly at the scene to suppress the rowdy Muslims who were heavily armed when news about the religious skirmishes broke out from Mbagala Chamazi which is a far distance. But according to Temeke Regional Police Commander David Misime, was quoted by the media as saying that more churches would have been attacked had the police not taken action immediately as from Chamanzi area where the incident started. The angry Muslims went on rampage and destroyed other churches around Mbagala area, and in the aftermath at least four other churches were attacked, these are the Seventh Adventist Church, Tanzania Assemblies of God (TAG), Moravian Church and Anglican Church. The Muslim Chief Sheik, Alham Mussa Salum on Friday asked Muslims not to pursue the issue out of proportion adding that attacking churches would mean that a 14 year old boy was sent by Christians to desecrate the Quran which he believed was not the case.
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