Joshua and his collapsed church |
More troubles seems
to be coming the way of embattled founder of the Synagogue Church of All
Nations in Ikotun, Lagos State, Prophet T. B. Joshua since the collapse of a
building in his church killed over 115 worshippers and workers last week.
Authentic information
gathered by SHOWBIZPLUSng has it that he may face a class action suit if a plan
by a South African opposition party materialises.
The party, the
Democratic Alliance, intends to write to the Minister of
International Relations and Cooperation, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, urging her to
assist South African victims of the SCOAN building collapse and their families
to sue the cleric.
The party, according
to its Parliamentarian, Stevens Mokgalapa, believes the church may
be criminally liable.
He spoke shortly
after some survivors of the tragedy, including two orphaned toddlers, arrived
in Pretoria and a call by the South African Minister in Charge of Pretoria,
Jeff Radebe, for a probe by the Nigerian Federal Government.
Radebe, who put the
death toll from the building collapse at 115, said that 84 South Africans were
among.
South African
President Jacob Zuma had last week said that 64 of his country men and women
perished in the tragedy.
Nkoana-Mashabane was
quoted by SABCNews.com as adding that the party felt that many lives
could have been saved if rescue work had begun immediately after the building
collapsed on September 12.
“The Democratic
Alliance is quite saddened and concerned about the reports of alleged
negligence from the church in Nigeria just after the collapse of
the building there. We also want to get the full disclosure of the assistance
of the South African Government and the cooperation of the Nigerian government
in as far as the tragedy is concerned,” Nkoana-Mashabane said.
In Pretoria, Radebe
stressed the need for the Nigerian government to urgently conclude its probe of
the “tragedy,’’ which, according to him, has opened up a diplomatic rift between
the two African economic heavyweights.
Speaking after about
two-dozen injured South Africans landed in Pretoria, Radebe explained that one
of the survivors chose to remain in SCOAN.
He said, “We
understand from our assessment team that the total number of people who have
perished is now 115, but those are not all South Africans. South Africans are
about 84 that have died.”
Reuters
quoted him as saying that the plan was to bring back “all the 26 survivors but
there were only 25 who actually boarded the aircraft because one returned to
the SCOAN on Sunday.”
A 19-member medical
team comprising specialised doctors, nurses and medical military paramedics
took care of the injured on board a military C-130 aircraft.
“It’s the biggest
evacuation effort by the (South African) Air Force since the dawn of
democracy,” two decades ago, said Radebe.
He congratulated the
work of South African emergency workers for the “biggest evacuation by the air
force since the dawn of democracy”.
“We are keenly
awaiting as a South African government, the investigation that is being
conducted by the Nigerian government so that we get to the bottom of the cause
of this disaster,” the minister said.
The C130 SA Air
Force plane carrying the injured South Africans arrived at the
Swartkop Air Force Base in Pretoria on Monday morning. Apart from the two
orphaned toddlers aged 18 months and two years, there was also a
six-year-old.
Acting Cabinet
spokesperson Phumla Williams said, “These kids, we are expecting that the
social development (department) will assist in making sure that they link them
up with their relatives,” she told reporters outside the base.
“Yes, there is a
process to make sure that they are taken to their families,” Williams said.
Shortly after the
plane landed, an initial batch of the survivors was whisked off to the Steve
Biko Academic Hospital. Most of them were carried out of the plane
on stretchers and taken to ambulances parked nearby.
But the Public
Relations Officer, National Emergency Management Agency, South-West zone, Mr.
Ibrahim Farinloye, disagreed with Radebe, saying the death toll remains 86.
“We are the ones on
the ground and we are sticking to our report that 86 people died and 131 people
were injured. We coordinated the rescue operation and we have no other
statement to issue.”
Punch
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