Joshua did not give full details of the accident, believed to have resulted in the deaths of at least 84 South Africans so far.
He focused instead on a plane repeatedly flying low above the building an hour before its collapse and read out a message from a supposed Boko Haram would-be bomber seeking conversion. Joshua, famous for performing ritualistic “miracle” healings, attracts a large South African following that has included visits from South African politicians such as Winnie Madkizela-Mandela and Julius Malema, to sports stars such as Ruben Kruger and the late Wium Basson.
In July this year, an article in The Economist declared that Pentecostal church attendance in Britain grew by 25% between 2008 and 2013, with some 430 000 people attending West African and Brazilian Pentecostal churches. The Redeemed Christian Church of God run by Nigerian Enoch Adeboye has 670 churches in Britain, and claims branches in over 100 countries. These, to some extent, have altered practices by traditional churches, The Economist writes, with the Anglican Church in England (under Ugandan-born Archbishop of York John Sentamu) taking to outdoor adult baptisms.
In 2011, Joshua was third on the Forbes list of Nigeria’s five richest pastors, coming in behind David Odeyepo of Living Faith World Outreach Ministry (estimated net worth of $150-million) and Chris Oyakhilome of Christ Embassy (estimated net worth of $30-million to $50-million).
Joshua’s net worth was approximated at close to $15-million. On the line from Cape Town, Ukah argues, however that the controversial Joshua, whose net worth was approximated at between $10-million and $15-million, can’t be understood as a Christian enterprise. “He has improved as a performer from when he started many years ago [in 1989],” says Ukah on the phone from Cape Town. “In the early Nineties, his performance could be characterised as that of a magician, an entertainer in the mould of popular street performers. He has refined his practice. Now he can speak for a long time in fairly good English.
Ironically, it was pressure from the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria that allowed Joshua to flourish even further and set up Emmanuel TV. On April 30 2004, a law by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) came into effect, making it illegal to broadcast material containing the performance of miracles, which have not been verified before the broadcast.
“It was instigated by the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, with the NBC acting as a gatekeeper,” says Ukah. “[The then-president Olusegun] Obasanjo saw himself as a Pentecostal pastor, he fraternised with Pentecostal pastors and moved from church to church. The law forced TB [Joshua] to set up Emmanuel TV [which operates out of Johannesburg] and it forced Chris [Oyakhilome] out of Nigeria. Oyakhilome has scores of churches in South Africa, and also has bases in the United Kingdom and America. Scoan has a church in Cape Town, but a local Facebook page appears to primarily punt Joshua’s brand of “anointed” water.