The Hawks searched Malawi president Lazarus Chakwera's presidential plane twice before it departed SA to ensure Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary were not on board.
This is according to home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi, who assured MPs on Tuesday that the Bushiris did not leave in the presidential plane, nor did they leave SA through any of its ports of entry, and they did not use any of Bushiri's five passports.
Motsoaledi, who was briefing the National Assembly's portfolio committee on home affairs, spoke of commotion and confusion surrounding Chakwera's departure.
Some of his entourage — who were not known to SA's officials — sought to board the presidential plane at Waterkloof Air Base in Pretoria instead of at Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport (Ortia), where they had landed on their arrival.
Motsoaledi said Chakwera had arrived with an entourage of 23 people, including himself and his wife, and landed at the air force base.
After his visit, the presidential delegation at Waterkloof had increased to 66, and all 66 people wanted to board the flight back home from the air force base though there was no pre-arrangement for them to fly from Waterkloof.
An official from Malawi requested permission from international relations and co-operation minister Naledi Pandor to do this, but Pandor declined. She sent acting home affairs director-general Jackie McKay to Waterkloof to redirect the group to Ortia.
The discussions and negotiations to send the delegation back to Ortia took a long time and just before they were ushered, the Hawks arrived.
It was already after 6pm and the Bushiris had not reported to the police station as instructed by the court.
“It is then the police raised the alarm. They thought because there is a delegation from Malawi, there is a possibility they might take advantage of it,” said Motsoaledi.
“They arrived at the airport to make sure a mistake did not happen,” he said.
A “meticulous process” led by McKay, scrutinising each member's passport, started.
Only Chakwera and his wife were spared and moved into the plane.
Before the presidential plane departed Waterkloof, it was searched by the police, said Motsoaledi.
It was allowed on the tarmac of at Ortia to pick up the rest of the delegation, and again the delegation was processed through the normal processes at the airport and the plane was searched for a second time.
Motsoaledi told MPs Bushiri has five passports and none of them are South African.
“They were all issued in Malawi. We have their passport numbers,” he said.
The home affairs' movement control system which registers the movement of people who are coming into and those who are leaving SA, indicated the last time the Bushiris officially went through any port of entry in SA was on January 19 2019, when they entered the country through Ortia.
“After January 19 2019, there is no movement that indicates any of the Bushiris went through any of our border posts, and that includes on the days of last week,” said Motsoaledi.
Bushiri and his wife allegedly fled to Malawi for their safety a week after both were granted R200,000 bail by the Pretoria magistrate’s court.
Bushiri, Mary, Landiwe Ntlokwana Zethu and Willie Mudolo are facing charges of theft, money laundering and fraud in connection with an alleged R100m investment scheme.
LISTEN | Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary get bail of R200,000 each
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