THE Pretoria Magistrates Court was flooded by over 3 000 Enlightened Christian Gathering Church members today.
They were eager to hear whether their leader, Prophet Shepherd Bushiri, and his wife Mary would be granted bail.
Magistrate Thandi Theledi postponed the bail application to Friday. Theledi said the postponement was due to her unavailability in the next coming days.
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There was a huge chance the Bushiri matter might not be heard on Friday due to the court roll being full.
Defence advocate Anneline van den Heever said that was a chance they were willing to take. For now they stay in jail.
Theledi said another reason for the postponement was the big crowd outside court.
“The people outside are flouting Covid-19 regulations of social distancing, and I don’t want Pretoria to have an outbreak by rolling the matter to tomorrow, only to postpone it again,” she said.
Bushiri, Mary and Landiwe Ntlokwana were joined by two suspects in the matter. They all face charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to R102 million.
In a twist of events, Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has revealed Bushiri and his wife may have used fake documents to enter and remain in Mzansi.
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He said Bushiri and Mary arrived in the country in 2009 on visitors’ visas. On arrival, Bushiri registered companies and started conducting business, which is illegal.
Motsoaledi said when Bushiri applied for permanent residency, he made a declaration under oath that he entered the country in 2015, but records showed he entered in 2009. After Mary’s initial entry in 2009 with a visitor’s visa, she re-entered the country in 2012.
“She produced a permanent residency visa given to her in 1997, long before she entered the country. It was fraudulent.”
The department had issued a notice asking the couple to clarify the discrepancies.