BY FOCUS MAGANGA
Self-acclaimed prophet Shepherd Bushiri will always be remembered. He is a prophet, who can, in some way, be likened to the biblical John, the Baptist.
The Bible gives an interesting account of how King Herod was always perplexed whenever he spoke with John, and yet he was always enchanted to continue talking with him.
Bushiri is also a man who courses his audiences in a spring of awe whenever he opens his mouth. Of course, Bushiri is himself a person who loves spicing up life. And so he loves to divert a little from the known passage of credibility. This is also where he draws his difference from John the Baptist. And frankly, they differ in many more ways.
Bushiri is a man of sharp words, but his actions are somewhat rough. But this is a mixture that defines him the way he is. Largely, he is a controversial prophet.
Irrefutably, history will tell the story of Bushiri’s tales in his prime time. Bushiri was, many people would agree, older than his own age. He did not wait to be 50 to begin taking pictures with the band of heavenly angels. And at a point, he moved in air, and cameras kept the evidence.
The other time, Bushiri said, he commanded a car without engine to move, and it moved. Talking about miracle money, Bushiri did it all. There is, in fact, a magazine that pronounced him the richest prophet in Africa. No wonder, Bushiri dined with kings and queens from across the globe.
He was always accorded a majestic welcome whenever he visited a country. Mostly, he would not forget to reach out to the poor and feed the hungry whenever he visited a country. He did more of that in Malawi, his mother’s country.
But Bushiri had also his dark side. Some people allege he walked with his trouser’s zip open ready to shoot whenever an opportunity arose. And mostly, he would create the opportunities himself.
It is, however, his mysterious escape from South Africa at a time he was on bail for a money laundering case that historians will have ‘father Christmas’ on.
I mean the man who moved on air, miraculously multiplied money, took pictures with angels and moved a car without engine had to run away, violating his jail conditions, just to save his dear life. And surely, he is now here at home– But the South African government still wants more of him, beginning with putting him in cell so that he can preach to fellow inmates.
