Motsoaledi insists Bushiris didn't leave with President Chakwera

The Malawi president was on working visit in the country last week and departed the country on Friday.

On Saturday, Bushiri announced that he had fled the country and that he was in his native Malawi.

This led to speculation that the prophet left with Chakwera on his plane from Waterkloof Airforce Base in Tshwane.

But Motsoaledi has now became the latest to rubbish the allegations, telling Parliament’s home affairs committee that the Bushiris were definitely not on the plane.

Media reports claimed Chakwera was delayed at the air force base to allow Bushiri to make his escape.

Motsoaledi explained the delay was caused by Chakwera's advance team, who landed at OR Tambo International Airport on the arrival. It was assumed they would return with the president back home.

"The entourage that accompanied the president officially which was recorded in DIRCO was 21 people, the 23 mentioned is because it you count the president and first lady. But now there were 66 excluding the president and the first lady.

"Now it was suggested that the extra people must go to OR Tambo from where they first landed, it is not Malawians who suggested this, it is South Africa," said the minister.

Motsoaledi said as this was unfolding, the Hawks realised that Bushiri and his wife failed to clock in at the police station as required by their bail conditions.

It is then that the Hawks decided to go to the air force base to ensure that Bushiris were not among the delegates attempting to board the president's plane.

"So, they arrived at the airport to ensure that mistake doesn't happen and indeed a meticulous process started... whereby each of the people who were there was scrutinised with their passport, the photos on the passport and their face were matched before they were moved into the plane.

"Of course, with the exception of the president and the first lady, they were moved into the plane... before the plane departed it was searched by the police," said Motsoaledi.

The minister said the rest of the delegates were transported to OR Tambo International Airport where they boarded the president’s plane.

Motsoaledi stressed that even at the airport, police scrutinised each delegate before boarding the plane.

The minister told MPs that his office is aware that the Bushiris have five different passports, although none of the documents are South African.

They were issued in Malawi.

Motsoaledi said his department furnished the police with information, during the bail application, that the pair have been using fraudulent documentation to enter the country and are considered to be a flight risk.

The minister told the committee that his department is investigating how, in 2016, Bushiri and his wife were granted permanent residency.

This is after Mary arrived in the country in 1997 with a permanent residency permit, although it was her first time in South Africa.

"This matter is being investigated in terms of which Home Affairs officials were responsible under which conditions.

"So, having discovered all these we have researched a conclusion that the stay of Mr and Mrs Bushiri inside South Africa is not regular and is through lots of anomalies, so we need to take back or revoke their say in South Africa," he said.

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