The Hawks are reportedly unwilling to make public a study that describes how self-styled prophet Shepherd Bushiri eluded capture in South Africa, according to Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi.

 

The Home Affairs Committee of Parliament was updated by Motsoaledi on the most recent information on Bushiri’s escape on Tuesday.

“We have tried in the home affairs division. I have met with Godfrey Lebeya, the leader of the Hawks, in an effort to convince him that Parliament is pressuring me to reveal how Bushiri fled. He is emphatic that he will not provide such knowledge to anyone, even the Parliament, “said he.

The inquiry was completed on December 29, 2020, by the department’s Counter Corruption and Security Services Branch. ‘Gross dishonesty, gross negligence, and failure to comply with the Immigration Act, Regulations, and Standard Operating Procedures’ were alleged against a senior department official.

The disciplinary process is over, according to Motsoaledi. The senior official was found guilty of two of the charges in that procedure, and on May 23, 2022, a punishment of immediate removal was implemented.

The ex-employee had contested the sentence through the General Public Service Sectoral Bargaining Council, and the matter was now before an arbitrator, according to Motsoaledi.

While the senior manager’s disciplinary process was over, Motsoaledi said that internal disciplinary actions against other workers involved in the Bushiri family’s application for permanent residency were nearing completion.