Pastor Bushiri has turned self in to Police in Malawi

Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary were granted bail at the beginning of November. Credit BBC

Pastor Bushiri has turned self in to Police in Malawi

Days after escaping legal procedure in South Africa, Malawian preacher Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary have handed themselves over to police in their home country.

The couple turned themselves in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe, on Wednesday morning, the BBC’s reporter Nomsa Maseko says.

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Earlier this month they were released on bail by a South African court after being charged with fraud and money laundering. He had previously said that he wanted to clear his name.

Mr Bushiri told his supporters on social media on Saturday that his decision to skip bail was because he had been receiving death threats.

He also accused the South African authorities of not offering protection.

South Africa had initiated the process of extraditing the couple and on Monday issued a warrant for their arrest.

Buhsiri’s face-off with South African authorities may not be unconnected with the latest reported maltreatment meted on Malawian President, Lazarus Chakwere in South African airport. Malawi’s ministry of foreign affairs has issued a stinging statement criticising South Africa for the way that President Lazarus Chakwera and his delegation was treated on leaving the country on Friday after his two-day visit.

It described the treatment as “improper” and that it “breached diplomatic protocols” as well as leading to a long delay.

The statement details extensive checks on the luggage and the president’s plane for “unspecified security reasons”.

The foreign ministry’s comments come after well-known Malawian Christian preacher Shepherd Bushiri skipped bail in South Africa and fled to Malawi.

Malawi’s Foreign Minister Eisenhower Mkaka told the BBC that he believed the reason for the seven-hour delay in the president’s departure was because South Africa suspected that President Chakwera’s entourage had tried to smuggle Mr Bushiri out of South Africa.

The South African authorities have however made it clear that the preacher was not on the president’s plane