A mother in South Africa has accused Prophet Shepherd Bushiri of ruining her family’s fortune. The woman, Felicia Sibeko, claims that the Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) church leader who is commonly known as Major 1 swindled millions she had invested in his gold and forex commodities scheme.
Malawi24 has seen a cash deposit slip of R130,000 (K7.4 million) she made to an FNB account number 62626563002. She deposited the money on 28th July 2017 with SBTP as an authorization reference. She was promised that the money would generate R1 million (K49 million) in a space of six months.
However, she says Bushiri run away with the money without giving her a single coin, prompting her to call the Malawian born prophet a liar who left her family in destitute.
“I was scammed by Shepherd Bushiri after investing the last money we had secured for us and the future of our children, selling our business because he assured us that we are definitely going to have great returns on our investment” said Sibeko.
She claims to have sold her Toyota Quantum in July 2017 in order to raise the R130 000 that she “invested” in the scheme.
“We were assured that our lives will change. However, we are now living in poverty. We are in debts. My child can’t go to varsity because we don’t even have a cent to buy my child clothes or food, not to mention school fees. This so called man of God, Major 1 ruined our lives. We only wanted a better life for ourselves, we trusted him”, said Sibeko in a statement.
She claims that all her efforts to recover the money she invested has proved futile.
“We’ve tried all we could to get hold of Major 1 so he can give us back our money but we’ve been blocked by his office it’s really sad to see how he takes us now after we’ve invested our last money on his fraudulent activities”
Sibeko says there are several victims who have been scammed by Bushiri who she alleges targets and steal from the “vulnerable and poor all in the name of God” to quench his undying-thirst for a lavish lifestyle.
She called on the other victims to join her in the quest to recover their investment that vanished in thin air. She is mobilizing them to hold a vigil at Bushiri’s house.
“I believe that if other victims of this scam can come out and join me as I’m also planning to camp in his house because over the years we haven’t been able to reach him”.
Bushiri, who recently faced accusations of rape, is yet to comment on her claims.
She has now opened a police case against Bushiri who she claims to have believed because he “claimed to be a prophet who is being used by God”.
“I am so disappointed. We believed that he is used by God. We never doubted him as he claimed to be a Prophet of God. We are so disappointed” said Sibeko when she filed a case against Bushiri.
Meanwhile, media reports in South Africa indicate that Prophet Paseka Mboro Motsoeneng of Incredible Happenings Ministries has been supporting the Sibeko family who are finding it hard to make ends meet.
However, Bushiri says he is shocked that Mboro who Major 1 acknowledges as one of the pioneers of the prophetic ministry in South Africa has been “making soulish prayers, and directing all sorts of bad remarks and name-calling, against me”.
Mboro is yet to respond to Bushiri’s accusations.
But recent media reports revealed that Bushiri had payed a designer to show Mboro in heaven allegedly to tarnish Mboro’s name and credibility.
Bushiri confirmed through his spokesperson that the fake reports of Mboro being in heaven were indeed created by a guy who used to work in the ECG media team.
“The fake heaven story even trended overseas. Besides the reports of ‘I went to heaven and came back’, there were also reports I asked for R100 000 for Covid-19 relief and that I visited hell and killed satan” said Mboro who confronted Bushiri in 2016 about the issue.
“He told me the person behind the fake accounts and fake news had been fired” said Mboro.
He says his name continues to get tarnished because of the fake reports which he says were part of “a scheme aimed at tarnishing my name”.
Mboro said the stories resurfaced in 2018, tarnishing his name again.
“I believe there are more people involved in this. I’d like to meet all the people implicated, as well as Prophet Bushiri, so we can find a solution. I’m tired of people tarnishing my image” he has been quoted by the Daily Sun.
