Durban pastor Vusi Dube has demanded that evangelist TB Joshua apologise to the survivors and families of the victims who died when a building belonging to his church, the Synagogue Church of All Nations collapsed in Lagos, Nigeria, in September last year.
Dube’s comment follows a ruling by coroner Oyetade Komolafe, who said earlier this week that the church should be investigated and prosecuted for not obtaining approval before embarking on the construction of the building, the collapse of which led to the death of 116 people; 81 from South Africa.
“The church was culpable because of criminal negligence, resulting in the death of the victims,” Komolafe said.
On Thursday the outspoken MPL and pastor of the eThekwini Community Church called on Joshua to come clean “as a man of God” and ask for forgiveness from the families and survivors.
“I feel I have been vindicated in my view that the building’s collapse had nothing to do with either an attack by Boko Haram or evil spirits,” he said.
“The investigation has just proved that it was a lie fed to th0e people. The finding will bring closure to the families.”
However, Sambulo Myeni, whose trainee pastor brother Sabelo, of Nseleni, was one of five people from KwaZulu-Natal who died, as well as survivor Patrick Gera, lambasted the coroner’s findings. Labelling his conclusion “hogwash”, Myeni said the comments were part of an orchestrated effort to tarnish Joshua’s image.
“It is total rubbish. They are turning a blind eye to the real issue. The families were invited to the scene after the calamity. The building did not collapse because of poor structure. It was sabotaged. It was bombed. They are not telling us the truth.”
Supporting his theory, Myeni said the plane seen hovering above the building in a video released by Joshua after the incident (which has been widely discredited by experts) had “released laser beams” which brought it down.
“After watching the CCTV footage of the incident, it was evident the plane was responsible for the collapse,” he claimed. “It was a controlled demolition, rather than structural failure, that led to the tragedy.”
Myeni called for an independent investigation.
Gera, from Gauteng, who claims to be a qualified civil engineer, said he was “110 percent certain” the collapse was not caused by structural weakness.
“The explosions which emanated from the collapse made it clear that it was controlled. The findings were meant to denounce the church and TB Joshua.”
Responding to Myeni’s comments, government spokeswoman Phumla Williams said she did “not want to judge them because this is a sensitive and emotional matter”. She said she hoped families would reach closure once the findings were made public.
“We choose not to comment. None of the families has thanked us for the role we played in repatriating the bodies of their loved ones. Only one in Soweto has been grateful to us. During the funeral they mentioned that without government help they would not have known where to begin to make arrangements to repatriate the body of their dead relative,” she said.
Durban North couple Dickie and Dennis Thuthukani Ngcobo, Nomusa Nyawo, mother of three from Ngwavuma, and Nokuphila Maphumulo of KwaMakhutha also died in the collapse.
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Sunday Tribune