The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the decision by the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee in Home Affairs, Bongani Bongo, inviting Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, to account to Parliament over fugitives, Shepherd Bushiri, and his wife, Mary, who recently skipped the country while out on bail.
The DA yesterday called on the the Minister to appear before Parliament, to not only answer for Bushiri-gate but also to account for his Department’s abject failure to effectively manage South Africa’s ports of entry and departure.
In addition to the session in Parliament tomorrow, we also urge President Cyril Ramaphosa to engage his Malawian counterpart, President Lazarus Chakwera, on this incident to ensure effective cooperation between the two nations in the extradition process.
There has been numerous unsubstantiated rumors and allegations that the Bushiris may have fled to their home country on board the Malawian president’s aircraft. And while both Pretoria and Lilongwe have denied these allegations, we urge President Ramaphosa to commission an investigation to test these allegations.
The Bushiris’ escape has laid bare the inefficiencies within our border management system which resulted in wanted fugitives passing through them with ease and without detection. This was not only an indictment on Home Affairs but also on our law enforcement agencies.
This is of course not the first time that fugitives have fled our country under the cover of “diplomatic immunity”. In 2015, Omar al Bashar, managed to skip the country, despite facing charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes. And in 2017, the then Zimbabwean First Lady, Grace Mugabe, fled South Africa despite facing criminal charges over allegedly assaulting a model in a Johannesburg-hotel.
Home Affairs and all the relevant departments such as International Relations, State Security, Police and the Department of Defence need to urgently come together to address the challenges facing our border management processes.
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