Shepherd Bushiri, a Malawian prophet with a significant international fan base, has criticized South African media, calling them “weirdos” for their fixation on American singer Chris Brown’s concert, which filled FNB Stadium with more than 90,000 fans last Saturday.
In stark contrast, Bushiri’s four consecutive crossover nights of prayer attracted around 110,000 attendees, yet went unreported, highlighting a perceived bias in the media that feels like a slap in the face.
Taking to Facebook, Bushiri addressed the ongoing chatter about Chris Brown’s popularity as a crowd-puller, expressing his feelings of being slighted. He underscored that his successful events have been ignored by local media, despite being one of the pioneers in drawing large crowds to the venue.
“So Chris Brown’s concert at FNB Stadium drew a crowd of 94,000, and the South African media is going crazy, crowning him ‘the biggest crowd puller.’ What a shame. Hate is truly a beast. They are trying to turn a blind eye to my gatherings in the same stadium, where we recorded an all-time high with 110,000 people attending my crossover night prayers four consecutive times. Despite FNB Management publicly displaying this, no South African media has reported on it to date,” he remarked.
He further emphasized, “Indeed, if you hate someone, even their most beautiful face looks ugly. The South African media is trying to elevate Chris Brown while trying to cast down the gospel. They joyfully wrote about Chris Brown’s fans, saying ‘they were entertained,’ while labelling my followers as ‘brainwashed.’ Wow. Soon, South Africans will wake up to the real agenda unfolding in their land—hating men of God and celebrating evil. Diabolical!”
The reactions on his 5 million Facebook page sparked significant outrage, with critics arguing that he was drawing large audiences due to the free nature of his events, unlike Chris Brown, whose numbers were tied to ticket sales. As the saying goes, “You can’t compare apples and oranges.”
“Honestly speaking, as a man of God, you cannot compare yourself to others, especially since the business you do is different. Jesus was mocked, insulted, and even beaten for doing the right thing, but he never compared himself to Barabbas when people chose Barabbas over him,” one commenter wisely noted.
Meanwhile, Bushiri has chosen not to respond to any positive or negative comments following his post, which emerged on Monday morning like a thief in the night.
In another post during the day, the prophet revealed that over 75 countries have registered to attend his upcoming 2024-2025 crossover event on December 31st, to be held in Lilongwe, Malawi, for the Night of Gosheni.
The leader of the Enlightened Gathering Church (ECG), Bushiri, is currently in Malawi. He had been conducting prayers in Pretoria, South Africa, where the church’s headquarters was located, from 2012 until allegations of money laundering arose in 2020.
As of 2019, reports indicated that the church had branches in more than 180 countries, a testament to its far-reaching influence.
