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By Mzilikazi Wa Afrika, Molaole Montsho 
1 hour ago
Johannesburg – The controversial and self-proclaimed prophet Shepherd Bushiri and his wife, Mary, fled South Africa to Malawi across one of the borders after allegedly bribing Internal Affairs officials.
This follows the drama at Waterkloof Air Force Base on Friday when Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera was accused of attempting to smuggle some 30 people believed to be members of his advance team that first arrived in South Africa. .
A senior government official confirmed yesterday that Chakwera’s presidential plane was grounded for hours at Waterkloof after there was a problem with its suspected passengers.
“Although we received an anonymous tip that Bushiri was one of those suspicious passengers, he was not there when we searched the plane,” the official said.
Chakwera’s press secretary Brian Banda, speaking yesterday from Malawi, confirmed that Bushiri was not on the president’s plane.
“Bushiri was not on the president’s plane. I can confirm that.
“The president’s plane was delayed and some members of his team were unable to board from Waterkloof. They were forced to go to the OR Tambo International Airport, ”he said.
“The reason is that when they arrived in South Africa, they landed at OR Tambo and therefore were not allowed to leave the air force base.”
He said Chakwera will only discuss the Bushiri issue once the South African government has written to him and conducted an official investigation.
“The president is going to respect the rule of law. He promised during his presidential campaign that he will not interfere with issues of justice in Malawi and definitely not in South Africa. “
When asked when Chakwera is going to deliver Bushiri to South Africa, Banda said: “We will cross the bridge when we get there.”
A senior official with the Department of International Relations and Corporations said that yesterday an Interpol red alert was activated on Bushiri and his wife.
“All Interpol member countries will monitor his movements and once detected, he will be immediately detained and handed over to the authorities here at home.”
The official also added that South Africa has engaged the governments of Zimbabwe and Lesotho “to verify whether Bushiri and his wife have not used their countries to escape.
“We know for sure that they could not have escaped through Botswana because Bushiri was expelled from that country about a year ago and his churches closed.”
He added that criminal intelligence has also been asked to investigate the church itself as well as the man himself to verify the possibility that he is a front for money laundering.
He explained that authorities learned of Bushiri’s and his wife’s escape after they failed to show up at the local police station under the conditions of their bail on Friday.
“Red flags were raised and the Hawks started looking for them. It appears they skipped the country on Wednesday undetected.
“The president is extremely angry and has instructed the ministers of the security group to get answers about what happened.”
He said South Africa has a good chance of getting Bushiri and his wife back because “Malawi ratified the SADC Protocol on extraditions in 2002.
“It will be easier to take them back to SA to face the music. Talks are currently underway with Malawi to urgently recover the Bushiris. Internal Affairs (border management), State security and the Police have difficult questions to answer. “
The Sunday Independent received a tip that Bushiri and his wife had fled the country on Friday night and it was also suspected that they may have been smuggled onto the Chakwera presidential plane that left Waterkloof around 9pm and also made a quick stop at the OR Tambo International Airport. to pick up some members of his entourage who were not allowed to board the flight at the air force base in Pretoria.
“A team of police officers was sent to OR Tambo to check if Bushiri was not one of the passengers, but we could not find him and his wife,” said a police officer who asked not to be identified because it is not allowed. to speak to the media.
News that Bushiri and his wife fled South Africa to Malawi in violation of their bail conditions broke out on Saturday morning when he posted a statement on his Facebook account “to inform the general public that my wife, Mary and I are temporarily in our Malawi, our country of origin, due to security problems since 2015, matters that worsened when we were released on bail ”.
The couple is indicted, along with three other people, in a R102 million fraud and money laundering case.
In a televised speech aired on the private television station Zodiak Broadcasting on Saturday night, Bushiri said he was in his home country to formally ask the Malawian government to intervene in his court battles in South Africa.
“The investigation [team] It is made up of five white policemen, the judge is white and one prosecutor is white. As a black man in South Africa I will not have a fair trial, “he said.
“I arrived in Malawi on Wednesday and my president [Lazarus Chakwera] left for South Africa the next day [Thursday] I have not met my government. I have not spoken to any government official. I will meet with my government on Monday. “
Bushiri said he would not flee his trial but wants to involve his native government about his concerns about his criminal cases in South Africa.
He said his South African-based lawyers would file documents in the higher court on Monday so that his bail would not be revoked.
“I’m not running away [from trial]. That is why I am here announcing that I am in Malawi. If you’re running, you don’t reveal where you are … I’m going to submit to the Malawi police too, I’m going to introduce myself to them … “
As part of their bond, the couple were only allowed to travel within Gauteng and North West until the case was finalized. The couple owns a hotel in Rustenburg, in the northwest.
Bushiri made five demands as a condition for his return to South Africa to stand trial. Among others, he wanted the police assigned to his case to be changed, he also wanted the judge and prosecutors in his case to recuse themselves.
Furthermore, he wanted the South African government to assure him that his bond would not be revoked.
Bushiri said he had opened extortion cases against the police team that arrested him and the team that investigated his cases.
He said he opened cases in 2018 and hoped that the South African judicial system would take up the cases he had brought first.
In the nearly 30-minute briefing on Saturday night, he did not release details about how he escaped the country, as he was expected to surrender his travel documents to police as part of his bail conditions.
Bushuri’s lawyer, Ntsako Baloyi, also declined on Saturday to explain how his client left the country.
“I refuse to make any statement on whether my client is a fugitive or not because it has different connotations and meanings to different people depending on which side he is on in this case,” he said.
Police sources say a preliminary investigation suggests that Bushiri and his wife exited over one of the South African-Lesotho borders.
“It is suspected that some Internal Affairs officials were bribed to let them cross the border and we are still not sure how they got out of Lesotho for Malawi,” the official said.
“We understand that after Bushiri and his wife reported to the Midrand Police Station on their bail condition on Wednesday, they did not return home but instead decided to escape.
“We suspect that there are several people who helped them escape,” added the officer.
On Sunday, the district attorney requested that Interior Minister Aaron Motsoaledi appear before Parliament for the incident.
“The couple reportedly fled South Africa to Malawi, crossing the border illegally after bribing Internal Affairs officials. This is a serious indictment about the role of Internal Affairs and border control in effectively policing South Africa’s ports of entry and ensuring the movement of people to and from our country, ”said Angel Khanyile, Minister of Internal Affairs in the shadow of the Prosecutor’s Office. .
“Most concerning, the Bushiri escape calls into question the safety and security of our nation given the ease with which border management systems can be manipulated by corruption and bribery, especially in light of insurgent reports. led by religious extremists in neighboring countries like Mozambique.
“The District Attorney calls on Home Secretary Aaron Motsoaledi to appear before Parliament to account for his department’s abject failure to effectively manage South Africa’s ports of entry and exit, which have made our borders so porous that even wanted fugitives can get through with ease, ”said Khanyile.
Sunday Independent and ANA
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