Bushiris’ extradition case fails to start in 2023

Enlightened Christian Gathering leader Prophet Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary made frequent visits to the Lilongwe Chief Resident Magistrate’s Court in 2023 for their extradition case which again failed to start due several adjournments and applications.

Following his escape from South Africa in November 2020 while on bail authorities in that country are seeking their extradition to face trial for criminal charges.

When hearing of the extradition case resumed in February, the court issued directives to the effect that the defence be served with all documents relating to the case.

However, when the court met for the next hearing in May, the Bushiris’ lawyer Wapona Kita made an application in court, saying the witness statements were not authenticated according to the Malawian extradition law.

He said: “Extradition request must be dismissed without hearing the so-called evidence in support of it as all witnesses are not authenticated according to the two rulings on this matter.”

State lawyer Dziko Malunda said the defence lawyer ambushed them with the application as they were not warned beforehand.

He said the defence should have filed a formal application to avoid wasting more time.

Chief resident magistrate Madalitso Chimwaza adjourned the matter to July 10 and gave the defence 14 days to make a formal application, and another 14 days for the state to respond.

When the court met the next month the State filed a fresh application on behalf of the South African government that it was going to be costly to bring witnesses from South Africa and accommodate them in Malawi.

Some of the witnesses, according to the State, are rape and assault victims who may require psychological counselling, adding that it was going to be expensive and unrealistic to hire psychologists in Malawi as they are few.

But Kita challenged the application, saying the issue was already dealt with by the same court in its ruling on June 8 2021 in which it ruled that the reasons were not definite.

According to the lawyer, the application concentrated on sexual offense witnesses and yet the extradition case is more than that as it involves other offenses such as money laundering, forgery, theft and fraud whose witnesses have nothing to do with the concerns raised.

Another application by the defence was also dismissed as premature in September.

The defence wanted their extradition dropped because the prosecution’s documents are not admissible as evidence as required by Section 13 of the Extradition Act.

In her ruling, Chimwaza observed that much as the documents are not admissible, they have not yet been tendered before the court; hence, premature to be dismissed at that stage.

The following month the defence again applied for the discontinuance of the case after the State failed to serve documents on the defence.

The court fined the State K560 000 as costs of proceedings but dismissed the application, saying the court could not discharge the case on technicalities.

Instead the court gave the State 60 days to file the documents and serve them on the defence before December 11 2023.

In his earlier submission, defence lawyer Wapona Kita argued that granting an adjournment would be like rewarding the incompetence by the South African Government, considering that both parties were given 30 days to prepare.

The hearings were not without other hitches as the only South African witness Sibongile Mnzinyathi on December 11 2023 failed to show up at the court as he faced some difficulties with flight connections in Nairobi, Kenya.

The witness, who is the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for South Africa’s Gauteng Province, arrived at the court seven hours after the scheduled time of the hearing and he informed the court that he delayed because of flight connections hurdles.

The witness was also seen in the country a week before the hearing to consult with the State and Kita wondered as to why the witness was still asking for an adjournment to prepare.

Having failed to make some good progress, the court adjourned the matter to March 11 2024 to allow the witness to consult with the State on the case.