Prayer and anger: South Africans divided over Bushiri as church leader appears in court

Followers of controversial pastor Shepherd Bushiri rallied together outside the Pretoria Commercial Crimes Court, reciting prayers and hymns as the church leader made an appearance on charges relating to fraud, money laundering and contravention of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.

Enlightened Christian Gathering Church members accused officials of having a "vendetta" against Bushiri, who was arrested with his wife Mary on Friday February 1.

Outside court, devotees fell to their knees in prayer.

Pastor Paseka "Mboro" Motsoeneng, who recently received R1m from Bushiri as a "gift" for his birthday also made an appearance to show his support.

"The name that matters is His name. Your father will always be your father," Mboro told those outside the court. 

Hawks spokesperson Brig Hangwani Malaudzi told TimesLIVE that the charges relate to incidents in 2015 relating to exchange control regulations in foreign currency amounting to $1,147,200 (about R15.3m).

While church members were confident of their "father's" innocence, on social media many South Africans lambasted the pastor.