Independent MediaMinister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe has been named as a special envoy to Nigeria, and will travel to Lagos on Monday to find out what is delaying the repatriation of 81 South Africans killed in the recent church accident. Picture: Thobile Mathonsi
Pretoria - Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe will travel to Nigeria on Monday to meet President Goodluck Jonathan and other officials to try to resolve the delay in returning the bodies of South Africans killed in a church accident two months ago.
Officials said Radebe – who has been appointed by President Jacob Zuma as his special envoy for this task – will meet Jonathan on Monday or Tuesday.
He will also meet Lagos state governor Babatunde Fashola and other officials.
On Tuesday, it will be two months since the guesthouse on the grounds of the Synagogue Church of All Nations collapsed, killing an estimated 81 South Africans and about 35 others.
The bodies remain in Lagos while the Nigerian authorities continue to identify them. South African officials say the Nigerians have not given them a clear answer what is causing the delay.
It has been more than a month since the Nigerian government appointed a private laboratory in Cape Town to analyse and match DNA samples from the dead and their relatives to try to identify them.
South African official sources said on Sunday that Pretoria did not know if the problem was that DNA material was inadequate for proper identification. Radebe would presumably discover this.
There have been indications that the bodies have deteriorated very badly because of inadequate refrigeration and that they have been preserved in formaldehyde, complicating DNA analysis.
Nigerian government officials have vehemently denied that their mortuary facilities are inadequate.
South Africa’s high commissioner to Nigeria, Lulu Mnguni, said this weekend from Lagos everything was ready to go as soon as Radebe had sorted out the problem causing the delay. - Independent Foreign Service.
Source: iolnews
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