By Celani Sikhakhane
- Dube says some illegal foreign pastors use churches to hide drug and human trafficking crimes and abuse their church members.
- Foreign church leaders like Shepherd Bushiri and Timothy Omotoso have faced serious criminal charges for fraud, rape and human trafficking.
Durban Bishop Vusi Dube wants foreign pastors who are in South Africa illegally to pack their bags. He says some of these leaders use their churches to hide drug operations and human trafficking.
Dube spoke out this week after coming back from a trip to Zanzibar. He warned that illegal church leaders are destroying the religious sector’s image by abusing their church members.
“Some of them are feeding people snakes, petrol, grass and all other things that are life threatening to human beings,” he said.
He said this behaviour makes people speak badly about religion. He said running a church is not a rare skill that requires foreigners to step in.
“Even us as South African you won’t see us going to other countries and open churches. We only go to other countries for international conferences not to open churches,” he said.
The South African religious sector has seen several foreign pastors face serious criminal charges recently. These cases involve human trafficking, rape and large-scale theft.
Self-proclaimed prophet Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary were arrested in South Africa in 2020. Police charged them with fraud and money laundering involving R102-million.
The couple skipped bail and ran away to Malawi. In March 2025, a court in Malawi ruled that they can be sent back to South Africa to face charges of fraud, rape and breaking immigration laws.
Another foreign church leader, Nigerian televangelist Timothy Omotoso, was arrested for rape and human trafficking. He spent eight years in prison before a court found him not guilty of all charges in April 2025.
Pictured above: Malawian fugitive prophet Shepherd Bushiri is wanted in South Africa for corruption charges connected to his church.
Image source: Shepherd Bushiri/Facebook
