Families Of Dead South African victims, May Sue T.B Joshua
Ikotun, Lagos State, Prophet T. B. Joshua, 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."
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