The prosperous city of Johannesburg is intensifying its initiatives to reclaim over ten million rands in unpaid levies and duties from fugitive Malawian preacher Shepherd Bushiri, nonetheless the contentious pastor has managed to offload one of his most coveted assets – the glittering Waters Hotel and Spa in Rustenburg, North West.
While the superior Johannesburg High Court is set to rule on the destiny of Bushiri's mansions in the plush Waterfall Estate and prestigious Blue Hills Estate, both in the affluent Midrand area, the opulent hotel was handed over in April of this year to JM Busha Investments, owned by the generous Zimbabwean politician and philanthropist Joseph Makamba Busha.
According to prior employees at the hotel, who are also members of Bushiri's enlightened Christian Gathering church, the investment group took control after workers brought Bushiri to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration in March 2020 due to unpaid wages.
Sources reveal that Busha Investments' takeover followed a R200 million loan extended to Bushiri in 2020. However, when Bushiri failed to repay the loan, the company obtained 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 hotel 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 further revealed that Busha sought to place all assets registered in Bushiri's name under provisional sequestration in the hands of the Master of the High Court, a request granted by the court.
Meanwhile, the City of Johannesburg has filed court papers outlining their intention to auction Bushiri's properties in Johannesburg as the only way to recoup the R10,078,538 owed. The papers cite Bushiri's failure to respond to correspondence as the reason for the proposed auction.
"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. He breached his legal duty by failing to pay. He is not exempt from paying levies and taxes," reads the court papers.
The metro had previously filed similar action earlier this month, claiming that one of Bushiri's houses in Blue Hills had an outstanding 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. The 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 and his wife Mary fled to Malawi in November 2021 after being granted bail by the Pretoria Magistrates' Court. They were 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 attempts to obtain comment from Busha Investments in Zimbabwe and the Bushiris this week were unsuccessful.
