Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has revealed that the controversial self-proclaimed prophet Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary had five passports each that were issued by Malawi.
Briefing the home affairs portfolio committee yesterday,
Motsoaledi said his department got involved in the Bushiri matter sometime last
year when the Hawks were investigating fraud, corruption and money laundering.
He said in the course of their investigations, the Hawks
came across IDs that had a lot of inconsistencies.
Motsoaledi also said Mary entered South Africa through the
OR Tambo International Airport and produced a permanent resident permit issued
to her in 1997.
“Obviously, this is surprising,” he said, adding that their
movement control system does not have a record of her entering the country in
1997.
Motsoaledi also said Bushiri entered the country in 2009,
and that other records show the couple entered in 2013 with Bushiri registering
companies and operating businesses between 2014 and 2016.
According to Motsoaledi, Bushiri should have applied for a
business visa, but did not do so. “It means the businesses he was running were
not within the law.”
Motsoaledi also said Bushiri and Mary applied for permanent
residency permits in 2016. “They declared under oath that they entered for the
first time in 2015. They were granted permanent residency in 2016,” he said.
However, Motsoaledi said the department reached a
conclusion that the Bushiris’ stay in the country was not regular. He also said
because of a lot of anomalies, they had to revoke their permanent residency
status.
“In August, Home Affairs issued a notice asking Mr Bushiri
to provide reasons why permanent residence permit should not be withdrawn.”
According to Motsoaledi, the Bushiris approached the court
seeking relief that the department be stopped from asking them questions
because they had a criminal case to answer in court.
The court ruled in their favour, forcing the department to
wait until they pleaded in court in next year.
“We applied for leave to appeal as we did not believe this
was a proper ruling,” he said.
The leave to appeal, whose judgment was reserved, was heard
when Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera was in the country last week.
The minister told MPs that during the Bushiris’ bail
application, his department had provided the irregular and fraudulent documents
used and regarded him as a flight risk that should not be released.
“It is common of course that we are suffering from porous
borders in this country. We believe people who are flight risk can go through
any of our porous borders,” he said.
The court granted the Bushiris R200 000 bail each and
instructed them to report to the nearest police station on Mondays and Fridays.
Motsoaledi said the Hawks raised an alarm that the Bushiris did not report to
the police station on the day the Malawi president entourage were to depart
from Waterkloof Airforce Base.
At the time, an advanced team of the Malawi presidential
entourage wanted to depart in the presidential airplane, but they were told it
could not happen. He said the advance team was advised to board at OR Tambo
International Airport after negotiations.
Motsoaledi detailed the process that was followed until the
team was allowed to board the presidential plane on the tarmac at OR Tambo
after they were processed like any other passenger.
Before the plane departed, it was searched and there was no
sign of the Bushiris, he said. Motsoaledi said on Saturday they heard that
Bushiri reappeared in Malawi. He said this happened despite them being
instructed to hand their travel documents to the police.
“Mr Bushiri has five passports and all issued in Malawi. Mrs
Bushiri has five passports issued by Malawi, not issued by us”
Mootsoaledi said the department had consulted with their
control movement system.
“Our movement control system indicated the last time the
Bushiris went officially through any port of entry was on 19 January 2019, when
they entered South African through OR Tambo International Airport.
“After 19 January 2019, there is no movement that indicates
any of the Bushiris went through any of our ports,” he said. — IOL.
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