Bushiri said he and his wife had missed the congregants during their incarceration.
He thanked church members who had come out in their numbers during his two court appearances, carrying placards and pictures of the couple as they knelt and prayed in tongues outside the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crime Court.
The pastor also thanked Black First Land First leader Andile Mngxitama, who said Bushiri was being demonised because he was a “successful black man”.
Bushiri described the past few weeks as being filled with “immense attacks”.
These, he said, included protest action which erupted after three congregants were killed in a stampede at the church on December 28 2018, demands for him to leave the country and demands for his church to be shut down.
Bushiri, known as Major 1 and also fondly referred to by congregants as Papa, said through it all, “God had been faithful”.