ENCA

Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi went before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Tuesday to explain how Shepherd and Mary Bushiri left the country.

The Bushiris contravened their bail conditions, fleeing the country after being charged with theft, money-laundering, and fraud.

Last week, the couple was granted bail of R200,000 each.

Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee, Bongani Bongo, said the Bushiri matter is one of “public importance” and everybody is talking about it.

Speculation was widespread the Bushiris left the country on the Malawian presidential flight, but this was later found to be untrue.

Motsoaledi said a comprehensive report on the incident will be presented to Parliament from all the ministers in the security cluster.

He presented his own report on the Bushiris’ documented travel history in the country.

Motsoaledi said Mary Bushiri first arrived in South Africa in 1997 with a permanent residency permit, but South Africa’s electronic movement control system has no record of this arrival.

There is also no record of Shepherd Bushiri’s entry into the country in 2009. His authentic arrival date is taken as occurring in 2013.

Bushiri registered companies locally in 2014, 2015 and 2016 but did not apply for a business visa.

In 2016 the Bushiris applied for permanent residency, despite Mary Bushiri having such a permit.

The Bushiris declared under oath that they entered SA for the first time in 2015.

The minister said the Bushiris’ permanent residence status was “irregular” with “lots of anomalies”.

Home Affairs took steps in August to revoke their permanent residence and a court case on the matter is ongoing.

A High Court judgment stopped the government from withdrawing the self-proclaimed prophet’s permanent residency, a decision the department is appealing.

Judgment was reserved in the case

Motsoaledi said the government cannot hide from the fact that the country’s borders are “porous”.

The minister said he was anxious and for this reason opposed bail for the Bushiris and deemed them a flight risk. This information was communicated with the police.

Motsoaledi also described the events taken on 13 November, when Malawaian president Lazarus Chakwera and his envoy was delayed while law enforcement conducted security checks on the delegation to ensure the Bushiris were not in the company.

The Malawian team was delayed for several hours at Pretoria Waterkloof Military Airbase as authorities conducted multiple security checks on the presidential entourage and the advance team.

According to Motsoaledi, not all members of the presidential delegation left immediately — at least three of them are still in the country.

The minister said the Bushiri couple have both been issued five passports each by the Malawian government but used none of these passports at any official port of entry.