THE number of Zimbabweans who died or were injured in the collapse of a guest house belonging to Nigerian self-styled prophet Temitope Balogun “TB” Joshua’s Synagogue Church of All Nations (Scoan) remains unknown. LUYANDUHLOBO MAKWATI OWN CORRESPONDENT
So far two Zimbabweans — a woman from Bulawayo and a top MDC-T official from Mashonaland West — were confirmed to have died in the Lagos disaster of September 12.
Efforts to get a comment from the Foreign Affairs ministry and the Nigerian embassy in Harare on the number of Zimbabweans who could have travelled to Lagos that week have been fruitless.
When Southern Eye called the Zimbabwean embassy in Abuja yesterday, a woman who declined to identify herself said the official who was better placed to assist was not in the office.
The matter has been complicated by revelations by a group that co-ordinates visits to Scoan from Zimbabwe that it only took 24 people to Lagos and all of them are back home safely.
This would suggest that some people travelled as individuals and cannot easily be accounted for. Desire Masuku of the Bulawayo-based Friends of Emmanuel TV and Scoan said all the people they took to Nigeria on the fateful week were back home safe.
He was reacting to accusations by people in the group of 24 who claimed that Masuku dumped them as soon as they arrived in Nigeria.
“We returned home safely and I did not dump anyone in Nigeria,” Masuku said.
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“All the people I went with returned home, so why should you ask me that question when your paper reported that we returned safely?”
Masuku distanced himself from the Mpopoma woman identified as Catherine Ndlovu who is reportedly among the 115 that died when the guest house collapsed.
“I don’t know the woman you are talking about and she was not part of the people that I travelled with,” Masuku said.
A Bulawayo woman who made the pilgrimage told Southern Eye that Masuku dumped them when they arrived in Lagos. “When we arrived in Nigeria, he dumped us and never told us what to do,” she said.
“He doesn’t show respect when people are in Nigeria; it’s different from when he will be organising the trip back home.”
She said those seeking divine deliverance from TB Joshua parted with at least $1 500 depending on the number of days one wanted to stay and that excluded the air ticket and accommodation.
Meanwhile, the MDC-T yesterday said the body of its late acting provincial chairperson for Mashonanaland West, Greenwich Ndanga, who died at Scoan was now in South Africa where it was awaiting repatriation back home for burial.
MDC-T national organising secretary Nelson Chamisa said steps were being taken to bring Ndanga’s body home for burial.
“There was a delay because of the involvement of the South African and Nigerian governments, but I am reliably informed that the required documents are being processed to bring the body home,” he said.
“We have been in liaison with the family to facilitate the processes. The body is in South Africa and we hope for the process to be expedited so that the body comes home for burial.”
