Congregants of a Chatsworth church have obtained a court order against a school after it allegedly denied them access to conduct weekly services.

According to a report on the IoL site, for 15 years, the Temple of Jerusalem, which has 60 members, used three classrooms at Summit Primary for prayer meetings and Sunday morning services.

But last February, they were unable to conduct a midweek prayer meeting after they were allegedly locked out of the building.

The church claimed it continued to pay the monthly rental and added rental increases without being requested to do so.

In the founding affidavit, Pastor Eugene Perumal said there was a history of victimisation by the school.

A rule nisi was issued – calling on the school to show cause, if any, as to why a court order should not be granted. The school failed to do so and an interim order was made final.

Eight churches currently operate from the school.

Bruce Moodley, chairperson of the SGB, said he did not have issues with the other churches. He said usage times were issued to all the tenants and they needed to be adhered to. He also said Perumal’s church refused to sign a lease.

Perumal said Moodley’s comments were nonsense and the court order spoke for itself.

‘What they are offering us is a biased lease. We are not permanent tenants of the school but use the premises a few days a week. To date, they have failed to produce an equitable agreement,’ he said.

He said they were not abusing the usage times and only hold services on a Monday, Thursday and Sunday and on occasion held special services.

Full report on the IoL site