Shepherd Bushiri’s houses could be auctioned to pay off municipality debts. PHOTO: Thulani Mbele / Gallo images
As the City of Johannesburg metro intensifies efforts to recoup more than R10 million 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 Rustenburg in North West.
City Press understands that, while the metro council approached the Johannesburg High Court on 7 July this year to get its hands on Bushiri’s mansions at Waterfall Estate and Blue Hills Estate – both in Midrand – the controversial Bushiri managed to get rid of the hotel. The luxurious Sparkling Waters Hotel & Spa was transferred in April this year to his former funders, JM Busha Investments, which is owned by Zimbabwean politician and philanthropist Joseph Makamba Busha.
READ: City of Joburg goes after Bushiri’s house to recoup R1 million in rates
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 R200 million in 2020. However, he failed to pay back the loan, prompting the company to obtain a sequestration order against him.
“Staff received a letter from JM Busha Investment Group stating that, due to financial constraints, the operations would be scaled down,” said a source.
A senior staff member at the Sparkling Waters Hotel & Spa said:
For some workers, this was devastating news as they had lived on the property and had built up the popular tourist destination. The hotel is now under the control of Busha and it has not been disclosed how the transaction happened.
The source said Busha wanted everything registered in Bushiri’s name to be placed under provisional sequestration in the hands of the Master of the High Court, a request which was granted by the court.
Court papers filed by the City of Johannesburg this week outlined that an order to auction Bushiri’s properties in Johannesburg was the only way the metro council could recoup the amount of R10 078 538 he owed.
The papers also cited that his failure to respond to correspondence had prompted the council to have the properties auctioned.
“The City of Johannesburg is entitled to adopt and implement a tariff policy on the levying of fees for municipal services provided by the city itself or by way of service delivery agreements with Shepherd Bushiri,” reads the court papers.
He breached his legal duty by failing to pay. He is not exempt from paying levies and taxes.
The metro had filed similar action earlier this month, claiming that one of Bushiri’s houses in Blue Hills had an unsettled bill of R1.4 million.
Bushiri faces an additional R1 million claim for allegedly breaching a lease agreement with PPS Property Fund Trust for the premises of ECG’s headquarters in Hatfield, Pretoria.
READ: Shepherd Bushiri’s church is going, going…
The company, a trust controlled by PPS Insurance, approached the office of the Master of the Johannesburg High Court last month to obtain an order that could lead to the auctioning of Bushiri’s assets.
Bushiri was in the headlines in November 2021 when he and his wife Mary fled to Malawi after he had been granted bail by the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court.
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.
They are also alleged to have obtained their permanent residency permits fraudulently.
Numerous efforts to get comment from Busha Investments in Zimbabwe and the Bushiris drew a blank this week.