*Self-styled prophet Shepherd’s ‘lover’ helped him and his
wife reach the Beit bridge border*
Self-proclaimed Malawian prophet Shepherd Bushiri allegedly
fled South Africa through Zimbabwe with the assistance of his 27-year-old
“lover”.
This is according to a Limpopo-based former member of
Bushiri’s Enlightened Christian Gathering Church, who says the woman – who had
borrowed his own car – allowed Bushiri and his wife to use it to travel to the
Beitbridge border post in Musina on November 10.
The man told City Press this week that he was exposing these
details because he was fed up with the church leader’s shenanigans and deceit,
particularly his declaration that he was willing to return and stand trial if
his safety was guaranteed.
Bushiri, he added, had been coming up with excuses like
demanding that the magistrate in Malawi recuse himself and expecting South
African witnesses to travel to Malawi, where he and his wife are currently
fighting extradition.
The man requested that he and the woman who borrowed his car
for the Bushiris not be named until they had met with the Directorate for
Priority Crime Investigation. The woman, he added, wanted assurance that she
would be protected before revealing her identity.
The congregant backed up his claims to City Press about
Bushiri’s escape with a sworn statement.
Bushiri’s South Africa-based lawyer, Ntsako Baloyi, insisted
that he did not know how the couple had left the country, as they had not
informed him. It was initially suspected that they escaped with the
assistance of Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera on November 14 – a matter
that threatened diplomatic ties between that country and South Africa. Chakwera
had been in South Africa to meet President Cyril Ramaphosa around the time the
Bushiris disappeared in the face of mounting fraud and money laundering charges
involving R102 million.
They had been released on R200 000 bail each by the Pretoria
Central Magistrates’ Court soon before their escape. The couple are standing
trial in a court in Malawi’s capital city Lilongwe. They are scheduled to
appear again tomorrow. The “prophet” is also facing eight counts of rape dating
back to 2016, with some of his alleged victims being as young as 16. She later
confided to me that she had helped them escape because she’d been having a
sexual relationship with Shepherd Bushiri for almost two years.
Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale declined to
comment on whether the Hawks were aware of this version of how the Bushiris
escaped, saying only that the matter was still under investigation.
*‘LOVER’ USED HER FRIEND’S VEHICLE*
In his affidavit, the former member of Bushiri’s church
alleged that he had lent a white car to Bushiri’s alleged lover when the
“prophet” called her and asked for assistance on November 9.
“Bushiri asked the woman if she had a car in good condition
for a long-distance trip and told her to ask me to lend her one if she didn’t.
She happened to be using my car at that time, as her own had mechanical
problems,” he said. Bushiri’s wife, he alleged, was driven by another person to
the woman’s apartment in Embassy Towers in Sandhurst, Johannesburg, between
11am and noon on November 10 and they then drove to Carlswald in Midrand, which
is where Bushiri was.
From there, the couple set off for the Malawi border post at
about 2pm, accompanied by another woman. The Bushiris, he said, were wearing
baseball caps to disguise themselves.
He alleged the lover was given strict instructions not to
tell anyone about this trip, but to misdirect people by calling all her friends
and acquaintances and telling them she had accompanied Mary Bushiri to Sun
City, and then leave her cellphone at home to avoid taking their calls. He
himself, the man said, had been unaware of what had really happened. “She
called me at about 1pm [on November 10] and told me about taking Mom [Mary
Bushiri] to Sun City,” he said.
In the affidavit, he said: “When she called me, she sounded
as if she was in a hurry and when I tried to call her back 30 minutes later,
her phone wasn’t answered.” The congregant alleged he was at his home in
Limpopo when the Bushiris skipped the country. “She [later] told me that she
only realised there were four vehicles as part of the Bushiri entourage, which
drove ahead of them to check for roadblocks and police presence on the road
when they arrived in Polokwane. They all booked into a lodge in Musina and, at
about 1.30am the next morning, they were called into the Bushiris’ room. That
was when the couple bid them goodbye. The Bushiris were then fetched by another
car and left for Malawi at about 2am, presumably through Beitbridge,” he
said.The woman offered the Bushiris R20 000 in cash.
Zimbabwean police spokesperson, chief superintendent Paul
Nyathi, said that the country’s police did not have any information about the
Bushiris passing through their borders. By mid-morning on November 11,
following the Bushiris’ departure, the lover allegedly used the cellphone of
her companion to contact the congregant via the Telegram app to ask for
directions to his house in Louis Trichardt.
The same day that the prophet came out of prison, he started
losing serious weight and when he was admitted to hospital here in South
Africa, they told him he had poison in his blood. That was when she told him
the whole story. “When she told me that Mary’s phone had been left at her
house, I told her to remove it as soon as possible because anyone could trace
it. We went together to her house [in Sandton] and only when I saw Mary’s
cellphone did I believe her story,” he said. “She phoned Sylvester [one of
Bushiri’s members of protocol] to come and take the phone and she handed it to
him. I informed her of the seriousness of her actions in helping the Bushiris
to escape,” he said. “She later confided to me that she had helped them escape
because she’d been having a sexual relationship with Shepherd Bushiri for
almost two years. She confirmed it by showing me a double-breasted suit, a
yellow tie, a white shirt and blue Boss underwear that Bushiri had left at her
place after spending a night there,” he said. City Press has seen pictures of
the clothing, taken by the congregant.
Baloyi said that many theories had been postulated about how
the Bushiris escaped South Africa, but this was the first time he had heard
that they had passed through the Beitbridge border post. “It’s not known to me
how they left, as I deal with them on legal issues – not on how they decide to
do things. To date, I can tell you that they’ve shared nothing about how they
left with me. I suppose they’re not emotionally ready to do so,” he said. He
added that the Bushiris had left because their lives were in danger and they
feared persecution and an unfair trial.
“Let me share with you: the same day that the prophet came
out of prison, he started losing serious weight and when he was admitted to
hospital here in South Africa, they told him he had poison in is blood.
The Bushiris have it on record, and evidence from the prison, that they were
poisoned,” said Baloyi.