Renowned prophet and miracle worker, Shepherd Bushiri was arrested along with his wife Mary Landiwe over theft, fraud and money laundering charges. The two clerics were arrested on the 20th, October 2020 along with two others in connection to an investment scheme worth 102 million rands.
This isn’t the first time the self-proclaimed prophet has come under scrutiny after he was banned from Botswana due to what he described as ‘miracle money’. Estimated to be worth $158 million with churches across the continent the Malawian born leader under his investment company: Shepherd Bushiri Investments has managed to amass a staggering amount of wealth for himself, including two private jets and a number of hotels despite having no clear lines of investment.
When asked about the wealth he had amassed back in 2018 the prophet was quick to blame ‘racism’ as the cause of the allegations and baseless rumors, nothing more. “I am a businessman and that is separate from being a prophet. My prosperity is from private businesses. Such questions are not asked from leaders of white churches but when an African man prospers, then it’s a problem,” he told BBC.
However it seems the law has caught up with ‘the man who took a selfie with God’ after he was accused of spiriting large sums of money out of South Africa aboard his private jets. After their arrest the suspects along with two other accomplices were kept in police custody until only last week Wednesday when they were granted bail by The Pretoria Magistrate’s Court to a tune of R200,000.
Prophet Bushiri is one of a many African pastors accused of using the church and its gullible congregants for profit making schemes after a video of him walking on water went viral.
Despite the court charges slapped upon him and his team, many of his followers refuse to believe that their spiritual leader could be guilty and still continue to stand with him even gathering outside the courthouse and praying in tongues.