TB Joshua facing bribery allegations

A Nigerian journalist has alleged that controversial Pastor TB Joshua tried to bribe journalists not to report on the death of people caused by the collapse of a building at his church in Lagos.

Nicholas Ebekwe has told SAfm (the SABC) that Joshua handed out envelopes, each containing 50 000 Naira or over R3300,  to the journalists.

Ebekwe says he was surprised to see some of his colleagues take the money.

“What got me angry is we are talking about a tragedy, we are talking about a loss of over 90 lives. Now journalists do not have the conscious to report what is right.”  He says the act of bribery was completely unethical.

However, South Africans who lost loved ones in the Nigerian church tragedy are still coming to terms with their loss.

Thingahangwi Ramatsia of Limpopo says his sister, Suzan and her husband George Tshivhase were among those who lost their lives.

Ramatsia has described how the deceased couple’s three children received the news.

“I drove straight to Polokwane where the rest of the family is. The kids are staying in Polokwane so that I can brief them on the development. The kids after receiving the news they had to cry for certain hour and 30 minutes after that things went back to normal because friends, colleagues and church members were starting to come and everything was back to normal within two hours.” SABC