Malawian citizens can enter Botswana without visas except Shepherd Bushiri, who is forced
to apply for a visa every time he enters Botswana.
His church’s leadership in Botswana said it was deregistered in 2017, because some
among the churches, failed to provide the state with a copy of their audited financials
for three years in a row.
They said they also made “outrageous requests from the government” which has now effectively
meant that Bushiri is persona non grata in the country.
This means, Shepherd Bushiri, in terms of diplomacy, is a foreign person, whose entering
or remaining in Botswana, is prohibited by the Botswana government.
Responding to a question in the Botswana Parliament, the Minister of Nationality, Immigration and
Gender Affairs, Edwin Batshu, told parliament that Shepherd Bushiri was indeed “too demanding”.
Batshu revealed that, Bushiri wanted heavy security from state security organs whenever
he was in the country, and he also wanted the government to direct all entry points
to be opened around the clock for his convenience.
“His church wrote a letter to my ministry requesting that we open our borders for 24
hours.
They stated in the letter that, given the stature of the pastor, we should grant their
permission of opening the borders as per their request,” he said.
“They said people would be coming from all over to see the pastor.”
Batshu told parliament that this was why his government slapped the visa requirement on
Bushiri, saying it was “proper” for his government to “legislate on issues relating
to religion and morality for the maintenance of law and order”.
Now Bushiri’s Botswana members are looking to the courts to reverse their government’s
December 2017 decision to deregister the church.
The church’s leadership argues that this move had nothing to do with the visa regime
Botswana imposed on Bushiri, but more to do with them failing to submit their financials
to the state in terms of the law.
They are optimistic that the court will reverse the labour and home affairs ministry’s decision
to cancel the church’s operations.
The court issued a temporary relief order for the church to continue operating pending
the outcome of the case.
The Enlightened Christian Gathering Church’s national executive secretary, Pelotshweu Baeng,
told City Press that the trouble started when their church in Gaborone, failed to submit
their annual returns between 2013 and 2015.
The “procedural irregularities”, he said ended up affecting other congregations in
Botswana who had complied with the law.
Since then, the national leadership decided to close the Gaborone church, and Baeng said
he hoped the church would conclude an ongoing audit before its annual general meeting.
Members of the “troublesome” Gaborone church, Baeng said, were the ones who wrote
to the government asking it not to tax “anointing oil and other products” the church brought
into Botswana, and asking it to keep the borders open around the clock for Bushiri’s benefit.
Baeng said this was not authorised by the church’s leadership, and prompted the government
to place the visa demand on Bushiri, because they feared he could be a security risk.
“We found it fit to issue an apology to the government for the unauthorised letter.
We have withdrawn it because it was outrageous.
Those demands were unrealistic hence we are pleading for forgiveness for actions that
were taken by some members,” said Baeng.
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