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JOHANNESBURG — The government should not issue a visa to Nigerian preacher TB Joshua, the ANC Youth League said yesterday. “TB Joshua should not be allowed to come to South Africa until we know what happened to our fellow countrymen at his church,” spokesperson Bandile Masuku said in a statement. “We will make sure we engage with the department of international relations and co-operation to make sure they do not issue him with a South African visa.”
Around 115 people, including 84 South Africans, were killed and dozens trapped when the multi-storey guesthouse attached to the Synagogue Church of All Nations, run by Joshua, collapsed on Friday, 12 September.
About 350 South Africans were thought to be visiting the church, in the Ikotun neighbourhood of Lagos, at the time.
Joshua, one of Nigeria’s best-known evangelical preachers referred to by followers across the world as “The Prophet” or “The Man of God”, on Sunday pledged to travel to South Africa to meet the survivors and their families.
On Monday morning, a plane carrying 25 South Africans injured in the collapse arrived at the Swartkop Air Force Base in Pretoria. Social workers received two South African toddlers, aged 18 months and two years, orphaned by the collapse.
Another child, aged 6, was also part of the group of injured South Africans that arrived from Nigeria.
Acting Cabinet spokesperson Phumla Williams said the three children were in good hands. — Sapa.
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