Pretoria has moved to reverse a Malawi High Court judgment that halted the transfer of Prophet Shepherd Bushiri and his wife, Mary, back to South Africa. AllAfrica reported that the South African government requested leave to appeal the October 2026 decision, claiming the local judiciary misunderstood the specific rules governing international legal transfers. This development signals a fresh round of litigation in a dispute that has persisted for several years.
Malawi 24 detailed that the government’s application, dated November 6, 2026, arrived at the Lilongwe Criminal Registry on November 9. The document lists 14 distinct grounds for challenging Judge Mzonde Mvula’s October 12 verdict. Director of Criminal Litigation Dzikondianthu Malunda confirmed the submission, indicating that Pretoria remains unsatisfied with the initial outcome. The case is scheduled for a future hearing before the same judge who issued the original order.
The central contention, according to Malawi 24, is that the judge applied the wrong legal lens to the proceedings. The government argues that Mvula evaluated the case as if it were a standard domestic criminal trial, rather than an extradition process designed to test if sufficient evidence exists for a foreign court. The appeal also questions the rejection of specific documents, which the lower court dismissed due to concerns about hearsay and authentication.
Furthermore, Pretoria disputes the conclusion that the couple suffered from a lack of procedural fairness. The government points to the Bushiris’ active participation in the earlier sessions, where they questioned state witnesses and offered their own submissions. It also challenges the notion that the delay made the transfer oppressive, suggesting the court did not sufficiently prove that political motives or timing issues would prejudice the defendants.
The couple arrived in Malawi in November 2020 while out on bail in South Africa. They face charges of fraud, theft, and money laundering, all of which they have previously contested. The High Court’s recent ruling overturned a March 2025 decision by a lower magistrate that had initially authorized their transfer. With the new appeal lodged, the legal standoff between the two nations continues.