Prophet Bushiri’s church loses its R4.9m property blessing

A church linked to controversial Malawian prophet Shepherd Bushiri has lost a court battle to take ownership of a R4.9m property in Rustenburg, North West.

The North West High Court dismissed an application by Enlightened Christian Gathering South Africa (ECG SA) and ECG TNJC Rustenburg NPC, which wanted the court to declare the Rustenburg church the true owner of the property.

The property, situated at a farm and registered in the name of Prophet Shepherd Bushiri Ministries NPC (PSBM), is in liquidation.

Bushiri remains a fugitive from justice in South Africa. Though the high court of Malawi set aside a previous extradition order against him and his wife in late 2025, he is wanted by South African authorities to stand trial for fraud, money laundering and other charges after fleeing the country in 2020.

The property forms part of the estate of PSBM, which was placed in liquidation after a high court order in Johannesburg in February 2024.

The liquidators were appointed to wind up the estate and deal with its assets.

The church relied heavily on an alleged oral agreement that PSBM would hold the property for the Rustenburg branch

Acting judge Bulelwa Mnyovu dismissed the application on Friday and ordered the applicants to pay the respondents’ legal costs.

The church had argued the property was bought in 2018 for the benefit of the Rustenburg branch.

It claimed Maria Mokoena, a church member, bought the property on behalf of the Rustenburg branch, while PSBM would temporarily hold the property until the local church was formally registered.

The applicants said Mokoena paid about R4.9m for the property and church members later spent at least R5m on refurbishing the buildings.

However, the liquidators strongly opposed the claim, saying there was no proper proof Mokoena bought the property on behalf of the Rustenburg church. They argued the property was legally bought and transferred to PSBM and the church had failed to prove it had any ownership rights.

The judge said the property had been transferred by conveyancers from RJ and EA Botha to PSBM on April 10 2018. This meant PSBM became the registered owner.

“The second applicant is not the true owner of the immovable property,” Mnyovu said.

The church relied heavily on an alleged oral agreement that PSBM would hold the property for the Rustenburg branch.

Mnyovu said the church had failed to show it had any existing, future or conditional right to the property

The judge accepted oral nominee agreements can, in certain circumstances, be legally valid. However, Mnyovu said this did not help the church because the actual property transfer had been completed in favour of PSBM.

“Mrs Maria Mokoena’s intentions to be owner of immovable property PSBM extinguished on April 10 2018 when the immovable property was transferred by PSBM conveyancers and registered in PSBM,” the judge said.

The church also produced redacted bank statements in an attempt to prove Mokoena had paid for the property. The judge rejected the statements, saying important information had been removed. “They [statements] don’t prove any beneficial ownership by the second applicant.”

The court also found the church had no legal right to reclaim the property from the liquidators.

Mnyovu said the liquidators were not unlawfully occupying the property and were carrying out their legal duties to wind up the estate.

The court further found the church should have considered buying the property once it became aware of the liquidation proceedings instead of trying to obtain ownership through a court order.

Mnyovu said the church had failed to show it had any existing, future or conditional right to the property.

The application was dismissed, leaving the property in the hands of the liquidation process.