The Pretoria Magistrate’s court has issued a warrant of arrest and revoked fugitive pastor Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary’s R200 000 bail each on Monday.

Government earlier said they had established that the Bushiris did not leave the country through any of the ports into/out of South Africa.

The couple face multiple counts of fraud and corruption relating to a multi-million rand investment scheme. They were released two weeks ago on R200 000 bail each.

Although law enforcement agencies continue to investigate how they escaped, it is speculated they might have been smuggled out of the country to Malawi by road last week.

Government spokesperson, Phumla Williams, says part of the bail conditions was the surrendering of all their passports to the state.

“I think where we are now, whatever method they used to exit our shores; he had done it illegally. At the moment, our focus is to get Bushiri and his wife back in South Africa and we believe they will then be able to shed light. Because even if they have used government officials, we will only know that when we apprehend them. Because from where we are, we look at all the legal protocols that exit at ports of entry; there is not such a record that Bushiri and the wife used the legal processes.”

What the SADC extradition treaty entails:

Bushiri’s corruption case against police

On Monday morning, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) confirmed that in 2018, a case of alleged police corruption/cash extortion was opened by Bushiri’s lawyer on his behalf in Sunnyside, Pretoria.

It is alleged that the police officers investigating several allegations of rape against the self-proclaimed prophet were trying to extort money from him so that they make his rape charges disappear.

Bushiri reported the extortion to police through his lawyer.

As part of the investigation process, IPID required Bushiri to provide crucial information about the allegations and to acquire witness statements, according to the directorate, Bushiri’s non-availability, due to his busy schedule, has been giving IPID investigators a challenge to proceed with this case.

The IPID said that Bushiri has been provided with feedback on the matter and that he is well aware that the investigator will proceed with his case as soon as he co-operates fully with the investigation process.