Sphelele Ngubane
and Sihle Manda
DURBAN: A Newcastle woman who survived the horror collapse of a building at The Synagogue, Church of All Nations, in Lagos was adamant yesterday that she would “definitely” return to the Nigerian church.
Speaking a few hours after she arrived home, Thandi Zulu, who spent three days in a Lagos hospital after rescuers pulled her from the rubble, said she was “beat, but recovering”.
“Even tomorrow I can go back, I will not stop,” she said.
Zulu said she had injuries and needed to sleep.
She was reluctant to disclose details of the incident.
“All I can say is that it was by the grace of God that some people could escape. If He (God) was not there, maybe everyone would have died,” she said.
Zulu said dozens of South Africans were in hospitals in Lagos.
“When we were leaving, others had just landed at Lagos to attend the services.”
She had been at the church for 17 hours when the guest house collapsed on Friday afternoon.
A former Pietermaritzburg woman, whose church pilgrimage ended a day before the collapse, said yesterday that she was “shocked and rattled” when she heard about the tragedy.
“I have thanked God because it could have been me,” she said.
Fikile Maoka, 40, who now lives in Pretoria, said she and her husband, Willie Maoka, paid R20 000 each for the week-long trip and had stayed in the guest house.
Referring to suggestions that the collapse was the result of an attack, Maoka questioned why a building in which southern Africans were accommodated should be targeted.
“You ask yourself, why would they specifically target this building?
“We were told the building was for the southern African group (South Africans, Namibians, Zimbabweans and Basotho).
“People from other continents have their own building.”
Maoka said she had travelled with about 200 people, most of whom were South African.
She said only four floors of the building were in use as the fifth and sixth floors were being “renovated”.
She said the church did not allow those on the pilgrimage to leave the church compound until their seventh day had ended.
“It is one street with guest rooms, a bakery, a laundry and other facilities. You are not allowed to leave the area unless you make a request to.”
Visitors had to be “screened and registered” to be allowed in. Nigerians were allowed on to the property only for Sunday church services.
Maoka said she had gone on the pilgrimage for “spiritual upliftment”.
“A friend went there last year and brought me anointing water.
“I was having problems with my finances and my house was about to be auctioned, but things changed and my finances were back in order.”
She planned to go back to the church early next year.
A fellow Newcastle woman, Dudu Nkabinde, who went to the church last month, said she was also keen to go back.
“Saying I won’t go back does not make sense because even in South Africa, buildings collapse,” she said.
There were several branches of the church in Johannesburg.