The Secretary-General of the Umkhonto Wesizwe (MK) Party, Floyd Shivambu, has explained his Easter weekend trip to Malawi that sparked outrage after he visited the church of self-proclaimed prophet, Shepherd Bhushiri.

Shivambu said the visit was not specifically to the church of the fugitive, who is wanted for a series of cases in South Africa, but that he was there to meet with political leaders and was later invited to attend the church.

He addressed the matter in an exclusive interview with SABC News on Wednesday, 28 May 2025. He told the news channel that the trip was conceived in March during the presidential inauguration of Ndemupelila Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah as the President of Namibia.

“So, you know in March the 21st we visited Namibia with President [Jacob] Zuma, so, when we were in Namibia in the table that we were sitting in after the official inauguration, we were sitting with former President Joyce Banda of Malawi. And we were also sitting with the incumbent Deputy President, Michaell Usi of Malawi as well. You know, we had small talk and exchanged contacts and President Zuma said that we must make follow-up on the discussions that were raised.

“I went to Malawi to see the former president Joyce Banda and I spent a lot of time with her and then I went to see the incumbent deputy president Michael Usi and we had very meaningful discussions. And both are proper leadership, which can change the politics of Malawi if they were to be given whatever responsibility they can be given in the future,” Shivammbu said.

He claimed that the visit to Bhushiri’s church came after the two meetings, which were planned in advance.

“After that, I went to see Prophet Shepherd Bushiri and to have broad discussions, I know him, like we used to have interactions when he was here in South Africa and he said that I am going to a church service later on, let’s go. Who am I to refuse to go to church? I have been to so many churches, I have been to the Nazareth Baptist Church, I have been to so many churches in South Africa.

“And what I was even interested about was that during my visit during the Easter period, there were more than 5000 South Africans who were in Malawi to go to the church specifically, not the political programme that I was there for,” he added.

Furthermore, he said he is not a law enforcement agency and, as far as he was concerned, there are no issues with Bushiri and his church in Malawi, to the extent that his security is provided by the state. He added that he did not speak during the service, only listened to sermons.

He told the broadcaster that the statement issued by his party to distance itself from the visit was based on a misunderstanding and later stressed that the visit was mandated.

“I have thought that I must clarify that because people thought that I was in a religious pilgrimage, I was not in a religious pilgrimage, I was in a political programme.”