Prophet Shepherd Bushiri assures women he takes rape allegations seriously
|Published
Enlightened Christian Gathering church leader, Shepherd Bushiri. File Picture: Dimpho Maja/African News Agency (ANA).
Pretoria - Rape accused self-proclaimed prophet Shepherd Bushiri assured women that he took the allegations levelled against him seriously and will subject himself to investigations.
This comes a few days after two women accused the controversial leader of the Enlightened Christian Gathering of raping them on separate occasions when they thought they were meeting for sermons.
Bushiri’s spokesperson Ephraim Nyondo said since the women opened cases and claimed to be the prophet's victims, Bushiri has observed anger from the female community of South Africa.
He said in reaction to the news, Bushiri released a statement confiding in the people and church members about how he was threatened with demands for money or he would be brought down through other means including allegations of this nature.
He said they kept the evidence of these threats which we reported to law enforcement agencies such as Ipid and SAPS in 2018 and 2019 respectively, and case numbers are available should the need arise.
"We are still at this point pursuing other legal remedies at our disposal," he said.
Nonetheless, in a more recent statement, Bushiri said: "I fully comprehend and most notably understand the gravity and depth of gender-based violence and femicide in this country. I have watched how the headlines have been filled with women who get killed by men, raped by men, tortured and abused by men.
"I am very much aware of how the church and its leaders in general cannot be exonerated from the violation of women and children. It is for this reason that our church adopted a gender-based violence policy a while back and of fundamental importance embedded and entrenched in the policy is to encourage victims to speak out.
"I have since and as contained in the aforesaid policy, disciplinary procedures and code of ethics put in place firm consequences against pastors and our church leaders that are accused and are found guilty of violating women and children.
"In this vein, I would like to urge our church members and supporters to desist and refrain from issuing remarks and statements on social media that are against people who support alleged rape victims.
"I don’t want my name to be used or associated with anyone who insults, discourages or acts in a manner that speaks against anyone supporting the alleged victims."
Bushiri said he sought justice for himself and to expose the extortion syndicate that has been demanding money from him and threatened him with rape allegations if he didn't pay exorbitant amounts.
"It has been very difficult for me because I am frustrated with wanting to expose the extortion syndicate while not presenting myself as insensitive to the serious scourge of Gender-based violence and the justified rage and anger of women in responding to such allegations," Bushiri added.
Pretoria News