A preliminary report presented by home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi before Parliament yesterday shed little light on how prophet Shepherd Bushiri and his wife, Mary, escaped the country last week.
Motsoaledi explained that Bushiri did not leave with Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera.
The minister was summoned to report to the portfolio committee on home affairs about Bushiri’s escape from justice while out on bail.
Motsoaledi said Bushiri and his wife had five passports, all of which were issued in Malawi, but did not use any of them to leave the country, according to the home affairs’ movement control system. A warrant of arrest has been issued for the couple, who are now fugitives.
Motsoaledi told the committee that Mary had 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.
Home affairs did not have any record of Mary being given permanent residence permit in 1997.
“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.
He added that the Bushiris applied for permanent residence permits in 2016 and it was granted “irregularly”.
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 appealed that decision. Judgment on the appeal is yet to be made.
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.
They 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.
Motsoaledi said when the Hawks realised that the Bushiris had violated their bail condition by not reporting at a nearby police station, they raised an alarm and the Chakwera's aircraft had to be searched for the couple.
Motsoaledi said acting director-general of home affairs Jackie MacKay was assigned to the Waterkloof Airbase after international relations minister received a request that more people than initially recorded wanted to depart with Chakwera. A total of 66 people wanted to leave with the plane while only 23 had got into the country through the airbase.
Motsoaledi said the plane was searched by police and passports were verified to ensure that the Bushiris were not part of the entourage. The same happened to the delegation which boarded the plane from the OR Tambo International Airport.
Chairperson of the committee, Bongani Bongo, described Bushiri’s escape as “scandalous and very embarrassing”.
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