Johannesburg Central Methodist church Bishop Paul Verryn approached the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday in a bid to have a curator appointed for minors living at the church.
The curator would be in charge of the 56 children without parents or adult guardians, said the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), which filed papers on behalf of Verryn and the church.
"In essence, it is the protection, promotion and achievement of the best interests of the unaccompanied children, many of whom are refugees who have been living at the church," LRC attorney Jason Brickhill said in a statement.
The church wanted to appoint Dr Ann Skelton, a children's rights lawyer from the Centre for Child Law to act as the curator. If the application was successful, Skelton would be involved in all matters pertaining to the children at the church, including their pending relocation to shelters and safe homes.
The application followed ongoing wrangles between the church and the Gauteng government. The latter had accused Verryn of refusing to cooperate with social workers who wanted to move the children to proper homes and shelters.
Gauteng health department spokesman Simon Zwane said on December 9 that children were supposed to be moved from the church on the 7th, but that social workers were left "frustrated and undermined" after the children ran away and church officials failed to help.
Verryn said at the time that while it had been agreed that social workers would visit the church on Monday December 7, he had given notice that he could not be present due to a scheduling conflict. Further, he said he had asked the children, aged between 14 and 17, to be there but was rebuffed.
"I pleaded with them not to run away ... because in fact it could be the beginning of a good thing for them," said Verryn.
"The children said they didn't trust them [the social workers] because they had spoken to them. They said they had run away before and will run away again."
