17th April, 2015
A video has surfaced of Nigerian Prophet Temitope Babatunde Joshua warning South Africans in July 2013 of a ‘youth revolt’ in their nation which would result in deaths of ‘certain people’.
The video clip, uploaded to Joshua’s popular YouTube channel, Emmanuel TV, claims the controversial cleric prophesied about the violent xenophobic attacks spreading across South Africa on Sunday 28th July 2013.
“In the nation, South Africa, we should help them in prayer because I am seeing youth revolt,” the clip quotes Joshua as saying. “It will be very serious. A situation where youth will come out and… you learn that there is a protest. Some people were killed – certain people.”
Joshua’s ‘bloody’ prediction made the front cover of South African newspaper ‘City Press’ in August 2013 when Julius Malema, the fiery leader of South Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), visited his church in Nigeria for ‘spiritual blessings’.
The clip was posted alongside a message from Joshua to South Africans. “If we fail to see that there are powers that cause people to be bowed down in bondage, we are going to fight the wrong battle,” he wrote, in a statement posted on the Nigerian pastor’s official Facebook page, followed by over 1.5 million people.
He then proceeded with a prayer for ‘calmness’ in the nation. “I pray for my nation, South Africa. As Jesus stood in the boat and commanded the storms to be calm, I stand in the midst of the storm in my nation, South Africa and I command the storm, wind and waves to be calm, in the name of Jesus! I speak calmness to my nation, South Africa, in the name of Jesus!”
The recent spate of xenophobic violence has left both fear and tensions rife across South Africa with hundreds of foreign owned shops forcibly closed and their owners seeking refuge in makeshift camps.
Five immigrants have been killed, including a 14 year old boy. Horrific images and videos have surfaced online showing locals burning foreign nationals and looting their shops.
The violence erupted shortly after a statement from the Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini, calling on foreigners to return to their countries as they were causing economic ‘inconvenience’ to locals.
T.B. Joshua’s television station, Emmanuel TV, is very popular in South Africa and has attracted thousands of Christians to his church ‘The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations’ in Lagos, Nigeria on pilgrimage.
By Ihechukwu Njoku, freelance journalist