Shepherd Bushiri: Meeting the man who ‘walks on air’

But what about the idea that a man of God should live a modest life? Is he concerned that these are things only a handful of his congregants will own in his lifetime?

"No, my prosperity is an inspiration for my followers - they think if God can do it for me, He can do it for them. If they believed there is anything wrong, they wouldn't be following me," he explains.

But while it may be inspirational for his followers, his seemingly overnight success has not gone unnoticed.

He has apparently received threats from people who see him as competition - and then there are those who worry for the people spending their money at these stalls, and those attached to similar charismatic churches around the country, each Sunday.

Who dares take on 'God's messenger'?

There are concerns South Africa's liberal laws on religion - the very thing which allowed Mr Bushiri to grow his ministry at such a rate - may be too relaxed.

Across the border in Botswana, his church has reportedly been shut down over its alleged use of "miracle money", contravening financial regulations.

Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva is head of South Africa's Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL), which recently released a report on the new crop of churches which have become so popular across Africa.

"We discovered that some of these churches were making a considerable profit from so-called 'faith products' that were being bought by poor people desperate to have their lives change for the better," she said.

But that wasn't the worst of it - the report also found that there was a prevalence of unsafe practices in some of them which included making congregants eat rats, snakes, grass and drink petrol, all in the name of proving their faith.

There were also allegations of sexual abuse in some instances.

But what makes South Africa such fertile ground for bogus churches?

"South Africa is still an unequal society but some people have found some success," says Ms Mkhwanazi-Xaluva.

"At the end of apartheid many people were expecting to live like their white counterparts, that is what they thought freedom was and so when you continue to live in poverty, that makes you vulnerable to anyone who promises to have an answer for you."

"South Africans are still hopeful of the Nelson Mandela dream but that makes them gullible and this is what these bogus pastors prey on," she adds.

But religion is a thorny issue, one that largely relies on individual choice.

So although South African authorities are aware that some churches are not acting in the best interests of their congregants, who dares take on anyone's God? Or his messengers?


By Pumza Fihlani, BBC News, Johannesburg

SOURCE: BBC News
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