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A South African journalist Ntombizodwa Makhoba who was detained at Chileka International Airport in Blantyre on February 18, 2019 and later deported back to her home country has accused Prophet Shepherd Bushiri of Enlighten Christian Gathering (ECG) church of being behind the whole ordeal.
Makhoba is investigating Prophet Bushiri who was recently arrested by Hawks on fraud and money laundering chargers together with his wife Mary.
According to an article published by City Press of South Africa dated February 26, 2019 titled ‘My ordeal in pursuit of Bushiri’, Makhoba accuses the police of receiving bribes from Bushiri to have her arrested.
“A police officer took my passport and asked me if I was Ntombizodwa Makhoba from South Africa. I said yes and was told to follow him.
“I knew something wasn’t right. My suspicions were raised further when he and his colleague asked if I was booked into the local Protea Hotel – even the person I’d arranged to collect me from the airport didn’t know that,” said Makhoba.
She added: “I asked what was wrong, and they told me to wait and said I was not allowed to ask questions.”
She said the police told her that they were acting on instruction from above.
“Anyway, you’re going to see your family tomorrow. We got instructions from above. You are going to be kept at a police station for a night and we’ll be deporting you on the first flight to South Africa tomorrow.” said the officer while reacting to Makhoba’s question.
The police officers then took the journalist to Chileka Police Station where she spent the night.
“This is where you are going to spend the night,” said the woman immigration officer.
“The tiny police station was staffed by two men in their early thirties. I wondered how I would manage a night there, and the possibility of being raped crossed my mind.
“I still had no clue as to why I was being detained – until I saw the book where all the suspects’ names and charges were recorded,” she said
She added: My name was already there. Alongside it, someone had written I was being detained for “safety reasons”.
“I needed to call my editor and my family.”
After successfully informing her editor about her experience Makhoba received a call from call from an official at the SA High Commission in Lilongwe, who told me that two people from OR Tambo International Airport and that they had my photograph and passport number.
The following morning, the journalist was taken back to Chileka Airport and handed back her passport.
I still do not know what crime I was accused of. I read in Malawian newspapers last week that I refused to produce “relevant” documents – which is false – and did not “seek clearance from relevant authorities”.
After I arrived home, people from Malawi began phoning me, claiming to be government officials and demanding to know whether it was true that I was investigating one of their country’s famous prophets, referring to Shepherd Bushiri.
Three of my sources in that country were detained and taken in for questioning.
A senior Malawian journalist to whom I had spoken received threatening calls and was ordered to stay away from the “prophet’s business”.
A former journalist to whom I had spoken sent this message: “We were also detained … they held my phone and all identity documents.”
I asked a journalist who came to see me at the police station to translate a statement for me from the police officers because I could not understand Chichewa.
He wrote: “The issue is that immigration officers received information from Bushiri that a certain journalist was coming to investigate him, and he told the officers to detain the journalist and she must be deported back. The officers said the journalist was followed by Bushiri’s men on the plane, and one of them gave them a signal for the journalist to be arrested at Chileka airport.”
Another source who was detained says people from the prophet’s inner circle promised him a “fortune” to not talk to the media.
He is now in fear for his life.
