Prophet Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary have never had proper documents to be in SA and did not have the legal right to operate businesses in the country.
These are the revelations made by home affairs minister
Aaron Motsoaledi before the portfolio committee overseeing his department in
parliament on Tuesday.
Motsoaledi said home affairs got involved with the Bushiris
last year when the Hawks were investigating the case of money laundering
against the couple.
He told the committee that the home affairs’ movement
control system shows Mary entered the country in 2012 through OR Tambo
International Airport and produced a permanent residence permit which she
claimed was issued to her in 1997.
“Obviously this is surprising because people don’t just get
permanent residence permit when they enter for the first time here. She
produced it and said it was given to her in 1997. On our movement control
system we don’t have any record of her entering the country in 1997,”
Motsoaledi said.
“Mr Bushiri himself entered South Africa round about 2009.
But the real movement control system indicates 2013. So we take 2013 as
authentic because it is recorded officially. In 2014, 2015, 2016 Mr Bushiri
registered companies and started conducting business. At this juncture, Mr
Bushiri should have applied for a business visa as is demanded by the law. This
means the businesses he was running were not within the law.”
Motsoaledi said in 2016, the Bushiris applied for permanent
residence permits in SA.
“They declared under oath that they entered South Africa
for the first time in 2015. They were granted these permanent residence permits
in 2016 which I must state this was issued irregularly because there was
misrepresentation of facts. This matter is being investigated.”
Motsoaledi said it was for that reason that home affairs
notified the Bushiris earlier this year that their status in the country would
be revoked.
The Bushiris then went to court last month and asked that
the home affairs move be suspended until their plea on their money laundering
case for which they were arrested in October.
The court granted them their wishes. However, home affairs
has appealed that decision. Judgment on the home affairs appeal was reserved on
Friday.
Motsoaledi said currently Bushiri and his wife have five
passports, all of which were issued in Malawi.
Bushiri and his wife escaped to Malawi last week, leaving
the nation angry and demanding answers from the government.
Bushiri and his co-accused, Mary, Landiwe Ntlokwana Zethu
and Willie Mudolo, are facing charges of theft, money laundering and fraud in
connection with an alleged R106m investment scheme.
The Bushiris were released on R200,000 bail each on
November 4 after their arrest last month. One of their bail conditions was that
they were barred from travelling outside SA and only permitted to travel in
Gauteng and the North West.
On Monday the Pretoria magistrate’s court issued a warrant
of arrest for the couple after the government indicated it would initiate an
extradition process for Bushiri and his wife to come and answer for their
alleged crimes in SA. Sowetan
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