Survivors brought home

AS 25 injured survivors of the Nigerian church collapse returned home to South Africa yesterday, two Eastern Cape families are frantically seeking answers as to whether their loved ones survived the disaster.

SABC parliamentary editor Vuyani Green said yesterday that his cousin’s wife, Lulama Matsila, had initially been told by a Nigerian church official that her husband, Thomas, was among the dead. However, the Queenstown family had now been told he was unaccounted for.

“We are still in shock and devastated. There have been many contradicting reports, which is not helping at all,” Green said.

About 350 South Africans were thought to be visiting the Synagogue Church of All Nations of popular evangelical preacher TB Joshua in Lagos when the church’s three-storey guesthouse building collapsed last week. Joshua on Sunday pledged to visit South Africa to meet survivors and their families.

Meanwhile, the family of Phumzile Mpondo, 29, of East London, is also still anxiously awaiting news of his whereabouts.