Cabinet confident Malawi will send Bushiris back to SA, Lamola

Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola has revealed that the South African government has given the Malawian government a period of two weeks to complete the extradition process of fugitive pastor, Shepherd Bushiri and his wife, Mary, in terms of the SADC protocol.

This came after a Cabinet meeting was held on Wednesday, 18 November. The Bushiris violated their bail conditions by skipping the country to Malawi.

Speaking to the media on Thursday, Lamola said Cabinet was “satisfied” with the manner in which the justice, crime, prevention and security cluster had handled the Bushiris’ matter. However, the minister added that it had not yet been established how the couple escaped the country.

“Cabinet was also briefed on the issue of Mr Shepherd and Mrs Mary Bushiri, who fled to Malawi while out on bail of R200,000 each following charges of fraud and money laundering.

“I don’t want to fuel any further speculation on how they fled South Africa, but warrants of arrest has already been issued and they have been reflagged by international organisation InterPol in the process. After that then the provisional arrest will be able to kickstarts the extradition process under SADC protocols.

“They will without a doubt be come back in South Africa so they can stand trial and we assure them that the legal process will be fair, as it has always been as according to the law.

“We are confident that the Malawian government will handled the extradition and the matter overall with care. We believe that the Malawian judiciary is robust and capable of withstanding pressure on any matter,” he said.

Bushiri and his wife Mary were granted bail of R200 000 and stand accused of theft, money laundering, and fraud.

The Bushiris were due to report in court on that matter in January 2021.

The first warrant of arrest was issued for the couple on Monday, while a second warrant of arrest was issued by the North Gauteng High Court on Wednesday, with forfeiture of the couple’s bail deposit being postponed to 7 December.

The couple were set to forfeit a total of R300,000 in total, following their escape.

They were out on R100 000 bail each and were required to regularly present themselves to authorities as part of complying with their bail conditions.