More than a dozen learners who were preparing for the ongoing end-of-year examinations were stripped naked before being robbed of their cellphones, laptops and clothes at the Living Water Christian International Church at Makonde on Saturday night (19th).
According to one of the victims of that cruelly executed robbery, who spoke on condition of anonymity, armed robbers stormed into the church immediately after loadshedding started at 21:00.
"The robbers were armed to the teeth with guns and ordered us to take off our clothes. They took our cellphones before emptying our bags, looking for money. Then they started taking expensive clothes and packed them into their bags. Cheap clothes were not taken but thrown all over the place. Some of the girls were molested as some of the suspects were touching their private parts." he said.
He added that he was given a hot and very painful blow to the jaw and fell down. "I felt as if I was beaten with a hammer, and they took my laptop and cellphone while pointing guns at us," he said. He added that some of the girls were taken out, still naked, and one of them managed to escape and run to the pastor's house, which is about 700 meters from the church.
The church's pastor, Mr HB Ramulifho, who is also a councillor in the Vhembe District Municipality, said he was surprised when one of the learners came running and told him what was happening at the church.
"I rushed to the scene and, upon my arrival, the robbers started running away, firing shots into the air. I found some church members and we chased after them, not caring whether they were armed or not. We were very disturbed by the incident," he said.
He added that all the learners had still been stark naked when they had arrived and had had to be taken to the pastor's house.
When asked if the learners received counselling for such a life-threatening experience, he said they were being counselled in groups. "The learners are very traumatised by the incident. I would also like to thank members of the SAPS for responding quickly and arriving on the scene in big numbers," he said.
Meanwhile, the provincial spokesperson for the SAPS, Colonel Malesela Ledwaba, confirmed that the police have opened a case of business robbery. "No arrest has been made so far, and police investigations are continuing," he said.