Home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi has revealed that fugitive Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary did not use any of SA's official ports of entry when they escaped to Malawi.
But if they did, Motsoaledi says they must have bribed their way through.
“Leaving a country is not something that is impossible as people think…There is always a way to escape if you are a real skelm [rascal]. In the same way we were able to skip and leave the country during the liberation movement through areas which the boers did not know, somebody can still do that today," he said, pointing out that he was angered by what the Bushiris have done.
In an interview with Sowetan yesterday, Motsoaledi said assessments done by the department showed that the Bushiris did not use any of the land, air or sea ports.
Motsoaledi said Bushiri may have used covert means that he and his comrades used to leave the country during the apartheid era.
“For us as home affairs, we’ve satisfied ourselves that none of the ports of entries were used… The rest is for the police and intelligence to see how he left through illegal means,” Motsoaledi said.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Bushiri announced that he and his wife left SA “because of safety and security issues since 2015”.
“There have been clear and evident attempts to have myself, my wife and my family killed and despite several attempts to report to authorities, there has never been state protection,” Bushiri claimed without providing evidence.
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. They had spent nearly two weeks in custody.
Bail conditions set by the court included that the couple is barred from travelling outside SA and only permitted to travel in Gauteng and North West.
They were also barred from disposing of any property; had to hand over to the state the original title deed to their R5.5m property in Midstream Estate, Centurion; and were barred from threatening witnesses and the investigation and prosecution teams, even while preaching.
Motsoaledi said his department warned the court that Bushiri and his wife were a flight risk.
“I wont blame any citizen if he says we are a laughing stock because this should not have happened. We are also not going to hide that our people get bribed. Since I have been in home affairs, I caught quite a number of people who were being bribed…For a man with a lot money like that, he can bribe anybody, unfortunately. That is why we said he should not get bail because he is likely to disappear.”
The government announced yesterday that the extradition process had been initiated against Bushiri and his wife.
In a statement, government spokesperson Phumla Williams dismissed reports that suggested that Bushiri was aided by Malawian president Lazarus Chakwera, who had visited the country.
“Following the visit, President Chakwera and his delegation departed from Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria and stopped over at OR Tambo International Airport to collect an additional number of officials who had travelled to SA earlier to prepare for the working visit.
“Department of home affairs immigration officials verified the identities of all passengers, and Mr and Ms Bushiri were not on the flight,” Williams said.
Criminal law expert Rudi Krause said the process to bring Bushiri and his wife back to the country would not be an easy one.
“Extradition processes where the person sought to be extradited opposes the extradition, it can take a few years. The vast majority of cases take years, even four to five years, to be concluded,” Krause said.
Krause said once a warrant of arrest for the Bushiris had been obtained, the SA government had to send an extradition request to Malawi. Upon receiving the request, the Malawian government had to arrest him and bring him before court where a hearing would be held to determine if he had to be sent back to SA.
Bushiri's lawyer Terrence Baloyi said the legal representatives did not know how Bushiri fled the country as he did not inform them about his move.
LISTEN | Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary get bail of R200,000 each
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