Bushiri to take over FNB Stadium

The Major 1 is back!

Malawian born prophet, Shepherd Bushiri, will this coming December take over the gigantic FNB Stadium, Malawi24 has learnt.

The Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) leader is expected to return to the ‎94,736-seat stadium commonly known as the Calabash for the 2019/2020 crossover after a year hiatus.

Bushiri first conquered the Calabash, a nickname for the FNB Stadium owing it to its shape, with the 2015/2016 crossover. Over 96 thousand people attended his maiden event at the venue.

The overnight crusade immediately earned Major 1 the ‘Africa’s most crowd puller’ crown.

Unofficial records indicate that Bushiri broke the 94,807 attendance record set on 1 August 2015 by the Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates Soweto derby.

Bushiri claimed that over 100 thousand people attended his last crossover event at the Calabash.

“Over a 100,000 people were gathered once again in the FNB stadium for Jesus Christ. A big thank you, to all that came and prayed with me. Despite all the forces that fought us in December to make sure we don’t gather and pray in the stadium, God proved faithful to us” posted Bushiri on 1 January 2018.

However, after 2017/2018 crossover, Bushiri did not return to the venue for last year’s end of the year overnight crusade.

Major 1 opted to host the 2018/2019 crossover at the Tshwane Events Centre (Pretoria showgrounds) where his ECG church is situated.

However, the Pretoria showgrounds proved too small for the magnitude of people that Bushiri commands across the world who trek to South Africa to celebrate his End-Of-Year-New-Year crossover events, forcing Bushiri to return to the Calabash with the event.

According to an article published on ECG’s website, Bushiri will return to the Calabash which he had filled to capacity on 2 crossover events before last year’s hiatus.

Official preparations for the prestigious 2019/2020 ECG Crossover Crusade with Prophet Shepherd Bushiri at FNB Stadium in South Africa kicked off last weekend in Gaborone, Botswana where ECG’s national pastor, Apostle Tana, teamed up with the church’s melodic angel, Pastor Melody Dzingai, for the Next Level Conference.

The conference aimed at setting off the congregants for the Crossover.

Opened in 1989, FNB Stadium is an iconic and largest stadium in Africa. It is iconic because it is the venue where Nelson Mandela held his first speech in Johannesburg following his release from Robben Island.

The stadium also served as the venue for Mandela’s memorial service on 10 December in 2013. His final public appearance was also at the venue when he attended the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final between Spain and Netherlands.

For the 2017/2018 crossover, dubbed the ‘Night of Angel Gabriel’, Bushiri sold 100 000 tickets at price of R10. The show was sold out within nine days, forcing Major 1 to print 2000 additional  tickets, which sold out within 24 hours.

Selling each ticket at R10 meant that Bushiri made an approximate of R1 million (K53 million) from the event.

But Major 1 denied that money from the tickets was used to enrich him, claiming he drew over R11 million (K0.53 billion) from his personal account for the FNB show.