NO RECORDS BUSHIRI FLED VIA ESWATINI

MBABANE – While Eswatini has been implicated in the fleeing of Prophet Shepherd Bushiri from South Africa, there are no records that he came through the country.

Following the reports in South African media that Bushiri, also known as  Major 1, might have allegedly fled South Africa through Eswatini, the kingdom’s Chief Immigrations Officer, Makhosi Simelane, said there was no record of the prophet entering and leaving the country.

Bushiri is the founder and leader of Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) and the church has a branch in the country.

The reports alleged that he entered the country near Pongola and left through Lavumisa where he entered Mozambique to travel through Zimbabwe and eventually reached his home country, Malawi.

Laundering

It was reported last Saturday that the prophet, who is currently on trial in South Africa for counts of fraud and money laundering, fled the republic to Malawi. 

Worth noting is that Bushiri and his wife Mary, who is his co-accused, were out on bail after spending a couple of days in jail in South Africa and one of the requirements was for the couple not to leave SA during their trial.

However, the prophet fled the country and justified his move in a public statement, stating that his life was in danger and he had to leave. 

In a sudden twist of events, the ECG founder was arrested yesterday after handing himself over to the Malawian police and this was confirmed by a statement which was sent out by the Malawi Police Service. Explaining how Bushiri’s passing through Eswatini could not be accounted for, Simelane said it was impossible to have records if a person was being smuggled, as it was an illegal movement.

Border

“They said he went through Pongola into the country and the border post near Pongola is Nsalitje. Nsalitje has been closed since March, when the lockdown was implemented during the emergence of COVID-19, and it has not been open since then. There is no movement of anything or anyone at the said border post at the moment,” said Simelane.

The chief immigrations officer said the last record of the prophet coming into the country was in 2017, for about two days, where he came in through the King Mswati III International Airport and left through it.

“It has been recorded that he came to the country twice in 2015 and in 2017. One of the instances was when there was dispute in his church and he had come to attend to that,” Simelane explained.

He also said there was no account of the prophet leaving the country through Lavumisa as assumed.

When asked if they had checked with the other border posts, he said they did.

“In fact, we have checked with all border gates in the country and there is no account of Bushiri coming to and leaving Eswatini,” Simelane said.

However, Simelane sharply said they could not confirm or deny the speculations made by the South African media.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: