'Dr' Bushiri blows into microphone, congregants 'fall' to the ground

Thousands of Enlightened Christian Gathering congregants gathered at the Pretoria Show Grounds on Monday, in hopes of getting "healed" by embattled pastor Shepherd Bushiri.

On Bushiri's official Facebook page updates of the service called 'Monday Diplomatic Deliverance' were posted.

Bushiri spent much of the service explaining the concept of what he calls a "spiritual echo".

"In the spirit, there are spiritual echoes. This is why I can stand in front and locate a person sitting at the back. There is a sound I can send in the spirit and when it bounces back it brings back the information about the person, their location, their name and what they do," it says on his Facebook page.

In one part of the service, which was recorded and posted on his Facebook page, Bushiri blows into a microphone and congregants immediately "fall" to the ground.

Bushiri said this was the "spiritual echo".

The congregants flooded the show grounds despite Bushiri and his wife Mary being arrested last week on charges of fraud and money laundering.

They were released on R100,000 bail each.

Bushiri insists that there is a vendetta behind the charges and when he made appearances in court, followers vowed to disrupt the upcoming general elections if he was not freed.

The followers refer to Bushiri as "daddy" and "Major 1". On Bushiri's Facebook page, posts refer to him as "dr" and claim that he healed several congregants from numerous conditions including "gambling addiction" and "blocked womb tubes".