Ownership of Bushiri’s luxurious properties transferred

As the City of Johannesburg metro intensifies efforts to recoup more than $546 000 owed by fugitive Malawian pastor Shepherd Bushiri in unpaid taxes and levies, the Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) has transferred the ownership of his luxury hotel in the North West Province. City Press understands that, while the metro council approached the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) on 7 July to get its hands on Bushiri’s mansions, the controversial cleric managed to get rid of the hotel. The luxurious Sparkling Waters Hotel & Spa was transferred in April to his former funders, JM Busha Investments, which is owned by Zimbabwean politician and philanthropist Joseph Makamba Busha. According to the hotel employees, who are also ECG members, the hotel was taken over by the investment group after the workers took Bushiri to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration in March 2020 due to unpaid wages. City Press also learnt that Busha Investments’ takeover came after the company had loaned Bushiri more than $10.9m in 2020. However, he failed to pay back the loan, prompting the company to obtain a sequestration order against him. Bushiri and his wife Mary fled to Malawi after he had been granted bail by the Pretoria Magistrate's Court in 2021. He was facing charges of money laundering and fraud, and accusations of orchestrating a Ponzi scheme that allegedly targeted pension funds. The process to extradite the couple from Malawi seems to have stalled.