A DELEGATION from South Africa, which is led by officials from the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, has arrived in Malawi to participate in the extradition case of Prophet Shepherd Bushiri and his wife, Mary, which is scheduled for Tuesday30, May.
This after the high court in Malawi ruled that witnesses from Mzansi need to go to Malawi to give their testimonies. In February 2023, the court overturned the ruling that South African witnesses could testify before a court in Mzansi.
The court said that Section 6 of the Extradition Act of Malawi clarified that the witnesses or relevant witnesses to a preliminary inquiry/extradition hearing are those witnesses who will be able to answer and convince the court conducting the inquiry.
Justice Bruno Kalemba said the state should make sure they bring the witness to Malawi to testify after they failed to give the court reasonable reasons as to why the witness could not travel to Malawi to testify.
ALSO READ: Hit the books, not TLOF TLOF, pupils told!
Bushiri, leader of the Enlightened Christian Gathering Church, and his wife Mary fled South Africa to their home country Malawi after fraud charges were brought against them in 2020.
Plans to have them extradited back to Mzansi to face the law have been ongoing for over two years.
Justice and correctional services department spokesman, Chrispin Phiri, said the delegation’s participation in the hearing was in line with Section 6 of the Extradition Act of Malawi.
“In leading this delegation, the department is fulfilling its role as a central authority. The delegation consists of senior and highly experienced prosecutors from the National Prosecuting Authority, the Investigative Directorate, and investigators from South African Police Services,” said Phiri.
He said in an extradition context, a central authority was a designated government department that had the responsibility of receiving, managing, and executing extradition requests.
