The Malawi police stopped the Bushiris at Kamuzu International Airport from leaving the country for Kenya
Fugitive prophet Shepherd Bushiri’s daughters who were the first to leave South Africa before the prophet and his alleged partner-in-crime, wife Mary Bushiri, escaped to Malawi last November were yesterday stopped at Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) from leaving the country.
The daughters, Raphaella and Israella, were stopped together with Mary Bushiri’s mother, Magdalena Zgambo and another family member, Esther Bushiri. This is according to a passenger manifest form seen by seen by some local reporters.
The police in Malawi are said to have barred the fugitives’ family members from boarding a private jet the Bushiri family had chartered en route to Kenya.
The two fugitives were not with them, neither were the two included on the passenger manifest.
Bushiri confirmed through his lawyer Wapona Kita in an interview with the local media that his family members were indeed stopped from flying out of the country. He claims that one of his daughters requires urgent medical attention in Kenya, hence the trip.
Prophet Bushiri is wanted together with his wife by the South African government to answer fraud, money laundering and corruption charges. They maintain their innocence.
But the couple escaped from South Africa soon after being granted bail. Their escape caused a diplomatic glitch between South Africa and Malawi following allegations that the Malawian president Lazarus Chakwera had helped the controversial prophet to escape.
The Malawian president who was in South Africa on official business then was detained for more than seven hours by South Africa authorities when it was discovered that the couple were missing on the radar.
“Fugitive prophet Shepherd Bushiri and his wife, Mary, were issued with diplomatic passports bearing decoy names and applied with cosmetic facial changes before being smuggled out of South Africa in Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera’s hired jet” reported the Sunday Independent.
The Malawi government denied any involvement in the couple’s escape. Nonetheless investigative reports established that the couple’s children were the first to leave the Rainbow nation and that they flew through OR Tambo airport with some family members.
Bushiri claims he left together with his wife as a matter of strategy.
In Malawi, the couple is currently fighting extradition after a formal request was made by the South African government to Malawi.
Hearing of their extradition will start in 2 weeks time, on 6 March, 2021.
