Court dismisses Bushiris’ bid on extradition

The Lilongwe Chief Resident Magistrate’s Court has dismissed as premature an application by prophet Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary to drop their extradition to South Africa purportedly because documents submitted were not authenticated.

The Bushiris want the extradition charges brought against them by the South African Government to be dropped on grounds that the prosecution’s documents are not admissible as evidence as required by Section 13 of the Extradition Act.

But in her ruling yesterday, chief resident magistrate Madalitso Chimwaza said the application was made prematurely as it was too early to dismiss the entire case just because South Africa intends to submit documents that are not admissible.

She said: “Much as the documents are not admissible, they have not yet been tendered before the court. As such, it will be premature to dismiss the case at this stage.”

In an interview after the hearing, Ministry of Justice senior State advocate Dzikondianthu Malunda said as the State representing the Republic of South Africa, they were happy with the ruling.

“We are happy with the ruling and we are glad that there will be progress on this matter. We hope there will be no further disruptions and that the matter will be determined on the merits,” he said.

Previously, Bushiris’ lawyer Wapona Kita submitted that the State did not, as per law, authenticate and certify the documents from South Africa to be used in the case.

In a previous interview, the lawyer stated that Section 13 of the Extradition Act makes it mandatory that affidavits used in extradition cases must be authenticated.

The State is expected to bring in a witness from South Africa on October 10.