Curing HIV/AIDS Bushiri has made false claims of "curing HIV". He countered that he has never performed a miracle in his life because only Jesus can. Nevertheless, due to claims of unproven miracles,
Botswana temporarily banned him from entering the country before courts ruled the ECG church is allowed to continue operating in the country. Initially he was free to enter the country at will, but now is required to apply for a visa every time he wants to enter Botswana.
Fees for public dinners The alleged fees charged to attend some of Bushiri's prestigious public dinners have been applauded. It was speculated that he charged R for a seat at his table at a gala dinner held on 23 December 2017 at the Pretoria Showground, and N$ for entry to a dinner held in
Windhoek, Namibia in January 2016. Bushiri in several news interviews refuted the published extreme pricing claims for "so-called gala dinners", calling them "fabricated".
Paternity It is alleged that in 2010, Bushiri impregnated a teenage Malawian woman, whom he met in 2007 in their hometown,
Mzimba. It is further claimed that he bribed her with a cheque for Malawian kwacha (about R) to have an abortion but that the cheque bounced. The woman subsequently gave birth in 2011 to a girl who "is the spitting image of Bushiri and it is widely known in the district that he is the biological father", according to the father of the woman. The woman is now married and the family alleges that they "kept quiet out of fear". The village that the woman and child live in broke the news before the family approached Bushiri. Bushiri claims that the cheque was stolen from him and that, on the day the woman claims he made her pregnant, Bushiri was at a police station dealing with an attempted hijacking. In 2018, the mother again tried to get maintenance via the courts but was unsuccessful. Family members of the girl claim that Bushiri admits to the allegations in private, despite his public denials and have demanded a paternity test. His lawyer, Terrence Baloyi, did not respond to emails, text messages and calls from
City Press seeking comment.
Non-payment for clothing In 2019, Darlington Manyawu, a businessman based in Hong Kong, claimed to have sold Bushiri clothing to the value of R but did not receive payment for them. He claimed that the clothing was given to Bushiri's spokesman, Maynard Manyowa on 28 June 2019 and Bushiri had subsequently been seen wearing the clothes at public church gatherings. Ephraim Nyondo, the spokesman for the Enlightened Christian Gathering church, did not dispute the claim but stated that the matter did not concern Bushiri as it was between Manyawu and Manyowa.
Radio Veritas The South African Catholic radio station, Radio Veritas, was reprimanded by the
Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) for airing a one-sided programme laced with allegations against Bushiri on 1 December 2019. Bushiri had claimed that the broadcast was "malicious, damaging to his reputation, libelous, contained lies, was unfounded" and did not afford him the right of reply. The BCCSA noted that Veritas Radio had contravened the broadcasting act in not presenting the opposing view from Bushiri.
Alleged infidelity On 20 February 2020, the former deputy finance minister of Zimbabwe,
Terence Mukupe, accused Bushiri of an adulterous affair with Mukupe's musician wife, Rachel, which resulted in the impregnation of Rachel. He claimed to have
WhatsApp evidence of his wife and the preacher arranging to meet for "sex romps in
Malawi,
Pretoria and
Rustenburg". He also claimed that Bushiri had taken R (approx $) from him to finance his church, Enlightened Christian Gathering. Bushiri responded to the allegations, saying that he had not left South Africa in the past 13 months and therefore could not have met with Rachel Mukupe. He also claimed that he had not used WhatsApp or iMessage for the past 3 years and hence could not have sent her the messages Terence Mukupe claimed to have found. Bushiri also said that he had engaged his lawyers in Zimbabwe to "urgently seek legal recours". Mukupe's response to Bushiri was that Bushiri had not used his own phone to contact Rachel and that Mukupe had paid for the tickets for Bushiri to travel. On 3 March, Rachel (known as Rachel J) responded to the allegations between Bushiri and Mukupe. In her statement, released via her family, it was stated that: • She was not married to Terence Mukupe although the man did live in her home and she had had children with him. • She looked after him and his 10 children. On 6 March, Rachel gave birth to a daughter she referred to as "Najah, Deborah, Makomborero". No paternity tests had been conducted at that point.
Rape and Sexual Assault On March 21, 2021, South African Police charged Shepherd Bushiri with 16 counts of rape relating to 8 different victims. At the time the police had already issued 3 warrants of arrests relating to three separate charges of rape against Bushiri The police claimed that Bushiri targeted women and girls at his church. According to police documents, the girls, including some as young as 15 and who were sisters were kept in hotel rooms and brutally raped for hours before being given between $500 and $700 and being asked to leave. Police later announced they were investigating Bushiri's associates whom they accused of intimidating victims, and reported that several victims had come forward between 2016 and 2018 and accused Bushiri of rape before recanting their testimonies after being intimidated or paid off. In December 2021, police arrested Brigadier Rosey Resondt’s husband, Clifford Cornelius Resondt, who was Bushiri’s head of security and charged them with corruption and defeating the ends of justice after Bushiri sent them R500,000 which was given to a rape victim who later recanted her allegations.
Fraudulent permit On 24 October 2020, South African Police revealed that Shepherd Bushiri's residency in the country may have been irregular after noticing that his South African issued identity card was issued in 1996 but Bushiri and his wife had first travelled to South Africa in 2010 on tourist visas. The police later announced that Bushiri had paid for a fraudulent residency permit and deemed him an illegal immigrant. After the announcement, 5 officials were suspended for having issued Bushiri fraudulent identity documents. ==Arrest==