MDC-T chair's body stuck in Lagos, as DNA tests stall progress

MORE than a month after  a six story hostel belonging to popular Nigerian televangelist TB Joshua's Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) collapsed, killing 115 pilgrims in Lagos, the poorly resourced West African country is still failing to identify decomposing victims through DNA tests, it has emerged.

Among the decomposing victims is Greenwich Ndanga, an MDC-T official who was among the visitors when the tragedy occurred.

As if the loss of a loved one was not enough grief for the late Mashonaland West MDC-T chairman, Greenwich Ndanga's relatives, it has emerged the family's worries do not just end there.

Since the mishap, the Ndanga family has been living with the anguish of not knowing if it will eventually bury the correct family member.

MDC-T national organising secretary Nelson Chamisa told NewZimbabwe.com at the weekend that the late Ndanga's body was still in Nigeria.

"The body is still in Nigeria. They are still carrying out DNA tests. The issue is getting complicated by the day," Chamisa said.

"The official position is that we are in liaison with the family on the arrangement to give a decent and respectable send off to our comrade.

"We are made to understand that there are diplomatic, bureaucratic and logistical complications that have delayed the process of having the body repatriated to Zimbabwe."

There were however conflicting reports over the current location of Ndanga's body with some MDC-T officials saying the late politician's body was now in South Africa.

"We hear the body is now in South Africa. His wife, as we speak, is in South Africa," said a party official who cannot be named for professional reasons.

Ndanga, also a pastor, was said to be a permanent South African resident who had travelled to Nigeria on church business.

The process of transferring his body to Zimbabwe was said to be tough as relatives need to go through the often cumbersome formalities of doing so.