Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) has asked government to follow existing laws when processing the extradition of Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) leader prophet Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary to South Africa.
In an interview in Lilongwe yesterday, HRDC executive member McDonald Sembereka observed that the Bushiris, who fled South Africa amid charges of fraud and money laundering, have a concern of security that needs to be addressed.
His comments come against the background of the Malawi Government signing an extradition document that will see the Bushiris taken back to South Africa.
Sembereka said: “We are not speaking in favour of anybody at this time. But what we are saying is that whatever government is going to do on the Bushiris case, that should be done according to the existing laws.”
ECG and Bushiri spokesperson Ephraim Nyondo said he could not react to the comments which HRDC made yesterday.
Minister of Homeland Security Richard Chimwendo Banda said last week that he signed the extradition document following the laws governing extradition processes. The Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) last week asked the Judiciary to discontinue hearing an application in which State lawyers challenged Lilongwe principal resident magistrate Viva Nyimba’s decision to free the Bushiris unconditionally on the basis that there was no any warrant of arrest against them.
