The Lilongwe Senior Resident Magistrate Court Monday rejected an application by Prophet Shepherd Bushiri and wife Mary, who wanted the court to entirely dismiss their extradition case.
The two are wanted by the South African government to appear before court on allegations of fraud and money laundering while in that country.
Delivering her ruling in Lilongwe, Senior Resident Magistrate Madalitso Chimwaza said although she agreed with the defence that documents that South Africa disclosed to the defence as evidence are inadmissible, it was premature to dismiss the case.
It transpired during proceedings that the documents in question were not authenticated by a judge, a magistrate or an officer from South Africa as required by Section 13 of the Extradition Act.
“Having disclosed the documents, it is not conclusive that they have tendered the evidence in the absence of a clear intention to do so.
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“In the circumstances, the court is of the considered view that to dismiss the whole request… will be premature and will not be in the interest of justice,” Chimwaza said in the ruling.
After the ruling, the Bushiris’ lawyer Wapota Kita said the defence was “very happy” that the court agreed with the defence on the principle objections it had raised.
“We had rejected the documents being tendered because they were inadmissible; they were not properly authenticated.
“The magistrate has agreed with us in total that the documents that are before her are not authenticated and cannot be used as evidence in this matter,” he said.
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State advocate Dzikondianthu Malunda said the State, which is representing the South African government, hopes that there would be no disruptions so that the case progresses.
He has since told The Daily Times that the list of witnesses has been reduced from seven to one and that the Director of Public Prosecutions from South Africa will come to Malawi to testify in the case.
“We have decided to bring one witness. His name is Mr Sibongile Mzinyathi, who is the Director of Public Prosecutions for Gauteng Province in the Republic of South Africa,” he said.
Meanwhile, the case has been adjourned to October 10 2023, when the State is expected to parade the witness.
The Bushiris were arrested in October 2020 in South Africa but fled the country to Malawi in November 2020 while on bail.
