Johannesburg – The mother of the three-year-old girl, who died after she was taken to Pastor Paseka "Mboro" Motsoeneng’s church, said she felt "empty" after her daughter's death.
Nontombi Gwam, 42, whose daughter Latoya died on December 24 after she fell ill earlier that week, described her daughter as "a gift from God" and said she was "a very happy, inquisitive and active child".
"She asked me many questions… I often wondered why she was so curious to know. On different occasions she even asked what happens when the people die. I could not answer that question. Now she knows better than me," Gwam said.
"I stand here before you, I am empty, I am broken," she said.
"The whole family is broken. Latoya was a living delight to every member of my family. The emptiness, desolation and grief is felt by every member of my family," Gwam said.
Also read: Investigation launched into death of three-year-old at Pastor Mboro's church
After falling ill, Gwam took her daughter to the clinic where she said she had to wait for hours before the child was put on a drip.
She said she was told Latoya would get better. However, her condition didn’t improve the next day. Gwam decided to take her daughter to Mboro’s Incredible Happenings church, where he prayed for her. There, her condition worsened when paramedics were called out.
There was an altercation between the paramedics, Mboro and other members of the church, with Gwam alleging that the paramedics refused to treat her daughter and claiming that they had assaulted her instead, by throwing an oxygen cylinder at her.
In statements, Gwam and Mboro insisted that the child died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital and not in Mboro’s church.
"I was failed by the paramedics and the SAPS. The one man that tried to help me, Prophet Mboro, was unfairly targeted by certain journalists," Gwam said.
Gwam, with a crowd of onlookers in her yard, made numerous comments about the media and the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Rights Commission), who criticised Mboro.
Gwam said the CRL Rights Commission failed to speak to her and find out what happened.
"Yet they make wide-ranging statements. I want them to refrain from making statements on matters they know nothing about," she said.
"I tried to read the media reports and what I read disturbed me even more. It was clear to me that some media personnel were misled and it feels as if I’m being attacked," she said.
