Prophet TB Joshua has reportedly feted the relatives of his church’s collapse in South Africa with lots of goodies including cash, posh hotel stays, lavish dinners and shopping sprees.
A number of the relatives of the 85 South African victims of his church collapse were taken in an all expenses paid tour of the site of the tragedy, lodged in 5 star hotels and lavished with all the trappings of opulence that befits affluent guests.
In an interview with a South African media house, one of the ladies, Wonder Ndlovu, whose husband had died in the collapse said of the trip made to Nigeria:
“He (Joshua) took us to a five-star posh hotel for dinner, fine food and drinks. The hotel is in Victoria Island. After chilling we came back in his luxurious kombis. (There were) more surprises while (we were) preparing to sleep. The mamas who took us shopping knocked and presented us with 50 000 naira each and they said we (must not) use all our (own) shopping money… I just sang A huna ya tshwana le yena (there’s no one like him).” Ndlovu who is a school teacher said.
This action simply bears the hallmark of good public relations that a present age leader of a globalized company would do to adjust a temporary maladjustment arising from an image setback.
Take a look at the Air Asia crash last month in the waters off Indonesia. The CEO of Air Asia, Tony Fernandez immediately went on a public relation spinning by personally going down to Indonesia to console the relatives, attempting to hear the grievances from each and every one of them and pledged before the world audience that he will personally accompany each one of his staff who was killed in the tragedy to their funeral home. Such an attitude is to obviate blame as much as possible so that a more favorable verdict can be elicited from the public.
Although, the church is not a commercial entity and faith is not a commodity that can be traded or measured in monetary terms, TB Joshua’s public relations is expected from a mega church like his and in most cases, such actions provide a more positive image for the Church.
