{"id":36476,"date":"2026-02-25T17:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T15:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/?p=36476"},"modified":"2026-02-26T05:26:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T03:26:31","slug":"bushiri-slams-siu-report-claims-r90m-boost-to-sa-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/2026\/02\/25\/bushiri-slams-siu-report-claims-r90m-boost-to-sa-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Bushiri slams SIU Report, claims R90m boost to SA economy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Image credit: Facebook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fugitive and self-proclaimed prophet, Shepherd Bushiri, has dismissed the latest findings by the Special Investigating Unit<\/span><\/span> (SIU) as a “witch-hunt”.<\/p>\n

He claims he invested more than R90 million in South Africa when he obtained his immigration status.<\/p>\n

Bushiri, who fled South Africa amid corruption charges, rejected the SIU report<\/a>, which found that he allegedly leveraged influence, fabricated documentation and misused networks to secure fraudulent immigration status claims he has strongly denied.<\/p>\n

In a worded statement<\/a> on Facebook, the televangelist claims his applications were lawfully approved under South African immigration laws, which allow individuals who make substantial investments in the country to qualify for residency.<\/p>\n

“I applied through the South African Embassy in Malawi. My documents were submitted in Malawi, long before we came to South Africa permanently, and not through any church member in South Africa,” Bushiri said.<\/p>\n

He added that granting him immigration status was neither a favour nor an exception, but a lawful outcome of the process.<\/p>\n

“When the permits were approved, we were formally contacted by the South African Embassy in Malawi and instructed to come and collect them. We did not chase anyone. We did not solicit help. We followed the process exactly as prescribed,” he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the SIU also revealed that Pastor Timothy Omotoso’s<\/a> alleged modus operandi was fundamentally built on fraud and misrepresentation to gain entry into and remain in South Africa.<\/p>\n

The unit says Omotoso’s initial entry into the country was secured through a fraudulently obtained work permit, issued in a country where he was not a citizen, based on what the SIU describes as an unauthorised directive.<\/p>\n

\n

The SIU\u2019s investigation paints a disturbing picture of systemic corruption within the Department of Home Affairs. Officials enriched themselves by unlawfully issuing permits, using spouses as conduits to launder bribes. Syndicates operated with precision, exploiting weaknesses in\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/3SGAsBRNr0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Special Investigating Unit (SIU) (@RSASIU) February 23, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fugitive and self-proclaimed prophet, Shepherd Bushiri, has dismissed the latest findings by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) as a “witch-hunt”. He claims he invested more than R90 million in South Africa when he obtained his immigration status. Bushiri, who fled South Africa amid corruption charges, rejected the SIU report, which ...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":36477,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1362,2794,2799,2798,2797,2796,2824,2793],"class_list":["post-36476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-criminal-syndicates","tag-department-of-home-affairs","tag-leon-schrieber","tag-pastor-timothy-omotoso","tag-prophet-shepherd-bushiri","tag-sa-borders","tag-siu-report","tag-special-investigating-unit"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/BUSHIRI.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36476"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36500,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36476\/revisions\/36500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}