Parishioners of a Mdantsane church watched in dismay as a loose maul developed at the perimeter gate when an elder tried to refuse six latecomers access to the Sunday morning service.
The video captures two members of the Old Apostolic Church in NU8 — one an elder, the other a young family man — wrestling over the gate.
The church later claimed it had been forced off its railings.
The elder appears to get it almost closed, but the younger man, dressed in a smart jacket and tie, scrums the gate back to the open position. Massed singing of the Sunday hymn can be heard in the background.
The three-minute-long video shows a church leader standing at the gate while another man tries to force his way inside the building.
The men are seen in a scuffle while a woman is heard on the video condemning the incident.
Approached for comment on Monday afternoon, one of the men in the video, Unathi Gunuza, declined to comment.
All he would say was: “I have nothing to say to the media about this at this stage . I was not fighting there. I have no interest in talking about this.”
