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TB Joshua: Tales of the tragedy

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Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of the collapse of a guest house attached to the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos.

Of the 116 who died, 85 were South Africans. Distraught families waited weeks for the injured to arrive and months for the dead. At a memorial service at Gallagher Estate in Midrand yesterday, Mantsebo Sefali (23) said she was still angry at her mother for not heeding her pleas not to travel to TB Joshua’s church.

‘I get angry sometimes when I think that, had she listened to me, maybe she would be alive today,’ she said. Kulani Mathebula (18) blamed her dad for going when she had asked him not to because he’d been the year before. Many of the families have found forgiveness, but they won’t forget.

Birthday is now death day 

Jean-Louis Kalambaie 

Until the guesthouse collapsed, the Kalambaie family celebrated two birthdays on September 12 – that of mother Jeanette and son Luke. 

Yesterday, they gathered for prayer and a visit to the grave of their son and brother, Jean-Louis. 

Last year, they were enjoying birthday cake when they received the news about the building collapse. Although, at the time, there was no confirmation that Jean-Louis was in the building, the festive mood left their home in Fourways, Joburg. Jean-Louis never got the opportunity to send his mother and brother birthday wishes. 

“He died about eight hours after setting his feet in Nigeria. In fact, he never got a chance do much after his arrival in Nigeria, and then he was dead,” said Luke on Friday. 

“We may cut a cake to try to change the mood, but it will be extremely difficult to celebrate our birthdays on the day that will every year mark the anniversary of my brother’s death.” 

After receiving an SMS from a friend in Nigeria about the collapse, he tried to text and call his brother, but the phone was off. Days of anxiety followed until Jean-Louis’ body was pulled from the rubble. 

Luke said his parents decided to “forgive prophet TB Joshua for what happened”, but were not prepared to let it go. 

“The church’s attitude and the labelling of deceased people as martyrs is a disgrace to the victims and their families, and we do not take kindly to that,” said Luke. 

The family hired a Nigerian law firm to pursue a civil claim against the church after the coroner at the inquest established by the Lagos government found the church was liable for the collapse – caused by structural failure – and ordered the prosecution of the building’s contractors. 

“We’re going to go all the way to seek justice for our brother. The church has paid for his burial and his six-year-old son’s school fees, but still we believe that someone must take responsibility and the truth must come out,” said Luke.

I kept hope burning 

Isaac Mongala 

It was the disturbing TV news visuals of a collapsing Nigerian church building that triggered huge anxiety for Lerato Fenyane. She called her mother, Cynthia Mongala, who confirmed that her father, Isaac, was in Nigeria. 

“I kept hope burning and refused to allow any thoughts that my father was dead to cross my mind. I was at the airport for two days expecting him to emerge from the arrivals doors, but there was no sight of him,” said Fenyane. 

“His phone was off and somebody from the group he had travelled with called to say they had been looking for him in Nigeria and he could not be found. After days of waiting, it was confirmed by government officials that my father was one of the deceased South Africans. 

“As if it was not enough for us that he had died, we then endured more than a month of emotional pain while we waited for his body.” 

On Friday, Fenyane and her family were preparing to travel to Johannesburg, where they were to attend a memorial service in honour of those who died in the collapse. 

Her father, a senior official in the Limpopo education department, would have completed his master’s degree this year. 

“It is difficult to explain how life has been without him. We’ve all had a difficult time since his death and, for me, I have lost someone I could run to if I was struggling with my studies and assignments,” she said. 

The 54-year-old father of five was also the family’s breadwinner. 

“The church has been very supportive. They have covered funeral expenses, paid for my younger brother’s school fees for the whole year and have been assisting my unemployed mother financially here and there,” she said. 

About the Lagos coroner’s findings that the guesthouse had been shabbily built, she said: “If there is anything that is amiss, God will reveal it at some point.”

Our faith has become stronger 

Maureen Mahlwele 

The Mahlwele family spoke to their mother, Maureen, the night before she died in the collapse. Her son Jabu Lepelle (29) said that his mother’s best friend, Johanna Mtsweni, alerted them to the collapse after she found news of it online. 

Lepelle was at home in Mhluzi Township outside Middelburg in Mpumalanga with his four siblings and 87-year-old grandmother Irene. 

“We had spoken to her at 11pm the previous night. When Johanna told us what had happened at the guesthouse, we went into panic mode and started calling her, but her phone was off. 

“We thought she was probably busy trying to help injured victims and we would find her later.” 

Mahlwele, a circuit manager for the Mpumalanga education department, was buried after a five-month wait for her body. 

Lepelle said the family had moved on after accepting that it was God’s plan for her to die. They still followed pastor TB Joshua and received invitations to church events. 

“We are happy with the church and some of us are planning to visit Lagos sometime this year. 

“It was God’s plan that the building collapsed when Mama was there, and we cannot point fingers at pastor Joshua. This is like somebody being hit by a car and we start accusing the driver of not checking this and that on his car,” he said. 

The coroner’s findings did not bother them, he said, adding that they did not want Joshua to be held liable. 

“Look, this was God’s plan. We will not worry about the investigation and its outcome, because it will not bring her back,” said Lepelle. 

“Our faith has become stronger. This loss has been an eye-opener, and we have learnt to stick together and help each other, knowing that Mama is no longer around.” 

That was the worst moment of our lives 

Thomas Matsila 

Vuyani Green clearly remembers the day he found out he’d lost his cousin and best friend, Thomas Matsila. 

“His passing hurt us so much. He was the glue that held our extended family together. Today, without him here, we are like sheep without a shepherd,” he said this week. 

Green, a journalist, said he last spoke to his cousin the night before he died. 

“It was exactly at 8pm when he called me on Thursday, telling me that he was in Nigeria at the TB Joshua church. He told me how much he would have loved for me to have come along. He promised that the next time he visited, he would bring me with him,” said Green. 

He said Matsila, a hospital manager at King William’s Town’s Victoria Hospital, had been trying to get him to visit the church for a while, “but I had my reservations, even though I am a Christian too”. 

After Matsila called, he sent Green what were to be his last photos: one with his wife, Lulama, another at the airport, another inside the plane, and the last outside the building that later collapsed. 

“I was in bed on Saturday morning when I heard the news on Umhlobo Wenene FM on the 7am bulletin. I could not believe it when the newsreader said that the church building in Nigeria had collapsed. I immediately jumped out of bed and started phoning people, including my cousin. There was no information coming, and everybody was frustrated,” he said. 

It was a miracle that Matsila’s wife, the mother of their three children, was spared, Green said. 

“They were walking on the streets together, going back to the building’s ground floor, where they were supposed to have lunch together. You know how women are – some item caught her eye in a store and she started looking at the things she wanted to buy at the shop. By this time, my cousin had already reached the building’s ground floor and was waiting for her to join him. The building collapsed just as he arrived,” said Green. 

The past year has been devastating for the family, especially during the anxious wait for Matsila’s body. 

“That was the worst moment of our lives. I can’t even explain what we went through in that period – waiting and waiting. It was devastating,” he said. 

Green said he could not understand why God would allow so many of His people to die in a place of worship. But his cousin’s faith was unshakeable. 

“Thomas’ faith was something to behold, and it was this, together with his infectious storytelling, that kept me going,” he wrote in his book, The Road to Thornhill. 

“Whenever he called me on the phone, he’d lift my spirits with all sorts of funny and outlandish stories.”

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