Self-proclaimed prophet Shepherd Bushiri is being sued for breaching a lease agreement for the Pretoria property where his church, the Enlightened Christian Gathering Church, is headquartered. According to City Press, PPS Property Trust Fund, which presumably owns the premises, has approached the High Court in Johannesburg, seeking to have Bushiri honour his end of the deal and fork out more than a million for months in unpaid rent.
BUSHIRI OWES OVER R1 MILLION FOR UNPAID LEASE
City Press reports that Shepherd Bushiri, who hasn’t been in the country for nearly a year, had entered into the first lease agreement on 7 August 2018 and expired on 30 June 2019. The agreement was then extended to June 2022. Bushiri failed to pay a monthly amount of R27 255 and an additional R54 510 for the duration of the first agreement. The outstanding balance is currently standing at R995 707, including interest.
The publication reports that attempts to get hold of Bushiri and inform him about the pending legal action were unsuccessful.
Bushiri and his wife Mary fled South Africa for their native Malawi, in violation of their bail conditions. They, along with three co-accused face charges of fraud and money laundering to the tune of R102 million. They were each released on R200 000 bail by the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court after being in police custody for more than two weeks.
The Bushiris already had two warrants out for their arrest, the first one having been issued by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), also known as the Hawks.
The North Gauteng High Court subsequently issued another warrant, for similar charges in another case. The Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court released the Bushiris on R100 000 bail each in 2019. This is in relation to another fraud and money laundering case to the tune of R15 million