Prophet Shepherd Bushiri has lost a court battle over ownership of a property valued at R4.9 million in Rustenburg, North West, South Africa.
According to TimesLIVE, the North West High Court dismissed an application by Bushiri’s Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) in South Africa and its Rustenburg branch seeking to have the property declared as belonging to the church.
The property, purchased in 2018, is registered in the name of Prophet Shepherd Bushiri Ministries NPC (PSBM) and reportedly forms part of the organisation’s assets currently under liquidation.
ECG argued that one of its members, Maria Mokoena, had purchased the property on behalf of the Rustenburg branch, with PSBM only holding it temporarily until the branch was formally registered.
However, acting judge Bulelwa Mnyovu ruled that the church had failed to provide sufficient evidence to establish its ownership of the property.
The court noted that the property was formally transferred and registered in PSBM’s name on April 10, 2018.
The church also presented redacted bank statements in an attempt to prove payment for the property, but the court rejected the evidence.
The applicants were ordered to pay the respondents’ legal costs.
The ruling means the R4.9 million Rustenburg property remains part of PSBM’s liquidation estate and can be dealt with as an asset of the organisation.
Bushiri, a Malawian preacher who founded ECG, returned to Malawi from South Africa in 2020 while facing criminal proceedings in that country.