SEMLEX AND THE DUBIOUS BUSINESSMEN AROUND THE KING: BEWARE YOUR MAJESTY
A few days ago, His Majesty King Mswati III was cutting the sod at Nokwane and welcoming a purported E810 Million investment by a company we now know to be SEMLEX.
To cheering crowds, flashing cameras and unctuous smiles, the King spoke heartily of the country taking one more step towards the land of milk and honey where jobs would be countless and opportunities abound for this tiny landlocked Kingdom nestled in the southern tip of this poverty wretched continent. The government's social media pages were beyond themselves with excitement.
The King was quoted urging Swazis to “join Government in the ‘hunt’ for high technology investors to come and set shop at the Nokwane Special Economic Zone”. The new miracle child is SEMLEX Group, a Belgian company with expertise in the production of identity cards, passports, e-visas, biometrics, birth certificates, and other secure documents.
SEMLEX intends to build their African head offices in the country. But a scratch beyond the surface and one begins to realise this week's event may have been the start of a pilfering plot carefully orchestrated by people with intentions bordering on high treason.
Representatives of Semlex, Prime Minister Russel Dlamini, Emmerson Mnangagwa´s son, George Manyere, Minister Mancoba Khumalo posing with the king during the cutting of the sod at Nokwane.
Privatising an essential public service
There are many reasons to be alarmed at SEMLEX coming to our country, key among them being that an important public service like the production of national identity cards and travel documents, which were for years provided to by the state at minimal costs, could be privatized to a foreign company.
The obvious implications of this are that the costs of such a national service will hit the roof just like it happened in countries where SEMLEX has a terrible history.
For example, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where SEMLEX was granted a contract to provide biometric passports under controversial circumstances, the average price of a passport rose from $100 to $185.
$60 from each passport sold in Congo went to an obscure Gulf company owned by a close relative of former President Joseph Kabila, according to reports by Reuters. Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi got into power under the promise to clear up corruption and end the country´s relationship with SEMLEX.
That is how bad the reputation of the company was in the country. Coming to eSwatini, it is now a question of when than if such a fate shall befall us. eSwatini government employees could potentially be retrenched as their jobs become redundant as much of the work will now be done by SEMLEX.
Only a few will be absorbed into this new company. Think of all those government employees under the Ministry of Home Affairs losing secure jobs because our leaders want to pocket from their unholy relationship with such a rogue company.
Former Congo President Joseph Kabila benefitted from the SEMLEX contracts in Congo
Then of course the costs of obtaining a national passport or national identity document will skyrocket. Already the costs of national identity documents and passports are high but with a profit-driven company now in charge of such a service, we can only speculate how much such a service will cost.
But even more concerning is the international reputation of our passport which will soon come under close scrutiny. With such a shady company in charge, our passports will be flagged all over the world and visas are likely to be denied especially for those who intend to work and study abroad.
SEMLEX: A dark controversial history in Africa and the world
But beyond the jobs and cost implications of this new venture lies a fundamental question; who exactly is SEMLEX and what is their record in Africa and the world? Following the revelations by Swazi leaks of the potential of this country to harbour allegedly dangerous international criminals that launder money, and engage in gold smuggling and illicit activities, the country should have taken a dim view of the people behind SEMLEX.
To find out the record of SEMLEX requires nothing more than just a simple Google search and all the answers get laid bare. Reuters did a detailed story on SEMLEX and its history of murky deals with a variety of African states, including Comoros, DRC, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and Gabon.
In Comoros, the company was accused of facilitating the sale of hundreds of diplomatic passports, including to individuals posing "potential security risks." According to Reuters, the company's CEO, Albert Karaziwan, at one point held three Comoran diplomatic passports and was appointed "roving ambassador" for the country.
Meanwhile, in 2017, Mozambique terminated a 10-year contract with the same company, accusing SEMLEX of failing to deliver on its promised $100m investment and that the contract had been awarded without an open tender. Up north in the Democratic Republic of Congo they did not renew SEMLEX owing to the widespread outcry about their activities in the country.
Semlex founder Albert Karaziwan
In Comoros, SEMLEX is accused of selling citizenships and was the subject of an international investigation that cut across several countries. The Comoros passport sales scandal involved corruption, public funds embezzlement, bribery, and money laundering scheme in connection with a citizenship by investment program launched by the government of the Comoros Islands and SEMLEX was at the heart of the scandal.
As if all this is not enough Belgian prosecutors are investigating allegations of money laundering and corruption by the company and their Directors. Prosecutors launched an investigation into possible money laundering and corruption soon after Reuters' detailed report. They subsequently raided the company’s headquarters in 2018.
If you think this is bad here is the cherry on top; SEMLEX is alleged to have financed the war in Ivory Coast. Roll back the clock to the beginning of 2011 following the fallout from Ivory Coast’s disputed presidential election and you will see the not-so-invisible hand of SEMLEX in the conflict.
In 2011 violence had flared across the West African country after President Laurent Gbagbo rejected the result of a second-round presidential poll that had been won by his rival, Alassane Dramane Ouattara, in late November 2010.
Semlex is accused of fueling war in Ivory Coast
The international community was piling pressure on Gbagbo. He ignored calls from the United Nations’ then-Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon to step down. In January 2011, the European Union froze his family’s assets and sanctioned dozens of people and companies that supported his regime.
As Ivory Coast spiralled into its second civil war in less than a decade — a conflict which would later claim 3,000 civilian lives — Gbagbo’s military chief of staff warned the army “didn’t have enough munitions to fight for three days.”
Squeezed for cash and in desperate need of weapons, Gbagbo turned to two companies that had helped him fund his campaign to become president through a shady oil deal: Gunvor, one of the world’s biggest oil traders, and, you guessed right, Brussels-based biometric document-maker SEMLEX.
A new investigation by OCCRP showed Gunvor and SEMLEX were ready and willing to broker weapons sales in return for a slice of Ivory Coast’s oil wealth. Given the foregoing, Political Analyst Dumsani Dlamini wonders, what business does the King, and by necessary extension the country, have sanctioning a relationship with questionable characters like SEMLEX?
As one commentator noted, these international syndicates have studied that the absolute powers of the King provide blanket immunity and protection so long as they establish relations with the King.
A history with shady characters and dubious businessmen: the case of George Manyere and Ecsponent
The recent Panama-papers-like leaks by the eSwatini Financial Intelligence Unit to a consortium of international investigative journalists only helped to expose that regulatory institutions are routinely ignored and our banking systems plus financial controls vulnerable to international syndicates and their local proxies intent on milking this country dry.
All these people have one thing in common—proximity with the King, royal family or certain politicians. Quite recently, the country experienced a whole ruckus around the Ecsponent saga where Swazis lost Millions of their savings and investments only for the people at the centre of their misery to be seen posing with the King and smiling from ear to ear during the launch of the SEMLEX project.
During this week´s sod cutting one figure loomed large; Zimbabwean-born George Manyere. Manyere needs no introduction to many of the people who know his complicity in the collapse of Ecsponent.
Controversial businessman Goerge Manyere.
For the uninitiated, George Manyere is CEO of Afristrat Investment Holdings Ltd formerly known as Ecsponent. Afristrat is listed on the JSE Securities Exchange (JSE). The listing on Africa's largest stock exchange gave Ecsponent credibility among investors.
The JSE suspended trading in Afristrat's shares in August 2022 after the company failed to submit its annual reports for the year ending in March 2022. ESW Investment Group formerly known as Ecsponent Swaziland Limited is an 85% subsidiary of Afristat through MHMK Financial Services. While Afristrat was still named Ecsponent it raised about E 2.3 Billion in preference shares, including E 340 Million from Swazis.
Many of the Swazi investors were pensioners who invested part of their pension payouts in Ecsponent. Ecsponent marketed the preference shares as safe income-generating investments paying returns of up to 12.5% per annum.
Afristrat invested about E 1.5 Billion of the money raised from investors in a company that used to trade in nine African countries (including eSwatini)) under the names GetBucks, GetSure and GetBanked.
In Botswana FirstCred, formerly known as Getbucks Limited alleged that the company misused 120 Million Pula raised from investors. In 2021 the Bank of Zambia concluded that Manyere was not a fit and proper person to be a director of a financial services provider.
A transaction showing Likhwane investing just after Ecsponent was flagged by South African regulatory institutions
In recent media reports, Global Fintech Entrepreneur Dave Van Niekerk was quoted to have said Ecsponent eSwatini has, at all material times, been owned by Manyere who, he says, is a 100 percent shareholder and director of MHMK Group Limited which holds 100% shareholding of ESW Investment Group Limited.
In June last year, Manyere was a subject of controversy in Botswana where the media in that country accused him of failure to honour a deal with a former partner – banker, and marketing specialist Douglas Mamvura.
However, Manyere, rubbished these reports, according to the Botswana Guardian Sun report. Even in Zimbabwean, The Herald newspaper reported that Manyere had failed to pay US$ 4 million to the former as proceeds for the sale of shares in an investment company they co-owned.
The publication had quoted a letter of demand that paints Manyere as an untrustworthy partner with a questionable character. In 2021, The Zimbabwe Mail reported that The Bank of Zambia (BoZ) had ordered Manyere to exit from both controlling shareholding and directorship in the fintech company, MyBucks, after allegedly violating banking rules.
It is reported that the Bank of Zambia believed Manyere’s actions and his counterpart, Barkat Ali, were detrimental to the stakeholders of MyBucks after the duo allegedly guaranteed a sum of US$10 million in favour of Ever Prosperous in exchange for an asset purportedly valued at US$5 million that was to be acquired at a later date.
Businessman Dave Van Kierk meeting the King recently
A source showed The Bridge a few snippets of statements from Q1 of 2020 from Ecsponent Swaziland, right after Manyere took over as shareholder and declared that Ecsponent eSwatini was not affected by the matters in Ecsponent South Africa (the operational and holding company). The interpretation here is that he knew the amount of damage in South Africa but allowed the country´s entity to continue with normal business.
Mystery still surrounds the involvement of Likhwane Fund services or beneficiary fund as they made two investments in February, exactly two months after the Johannesburg Stock Exchange listed mother company raised alarms with South African regulators.
"We cannot as emaswati allow this unscrupulous man to be part of any business activity until we know what happened to Likhwane's money," said a furious source.
As Manyere continues to be flagged as a dubious businessman around the region, no man has been more scathing in his criticism than Van Niekerk. Van Niekerk has accused Manyere of being responsible for the collapse of Ecsponent and not him.
Niekerk, who was at some point accused of flying out of the country after a High Court granted an order to ground him and his partner Edwin Soonius as investigations into the collapse of Ecsponent intensified in the country, has incessantly mentioned how he has always been made a scapegoat in the Ecsponent saga.
In a subsequent statement, Van Niekerk denied flying out of the country clarifying that the court application to restrict him and Edwin Soonius from leaving the country came to his attention on the morning of August 1 when he had already left the country.
He claimed his partner and himself were neither served with a copy of the application nor the court order that was granted by the High Court to restrict their exit. He later came to the country to see the king in what sources say was a meeting aimed at explaining his side of the story to the king.
As if to checkmate his former business partner, Manyere himself maneuvered his way into the orbit of the King during the Nokwane sod cutting leading many to ask; how does the king allow himself to be used in Manyere's PR stunt?
SEMLEX, Manyere and the Zimbabwean connection: how Cabinet rejected SEMLEX and its Manyere sidekick.
As the fallout on the SEMLEX saga continues, it has been revealed that cabinet members, royals, and other government officials were not happy with the presence of Manyere at the sod-cutting ceremony down in Nokwane and do not approve of SEMLEX.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa is expected in the country next week
The Bridge has been told that the SEMLEX connection was facilitated by Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa hence his son was one of the people who were prominent in the event.
The source told The Bridge that the Zimbabwean President is expected in the country as part of fortifying the relationship between Manyere, SEMLEX, and Zimbabwe.
“It's bad. Everyone has spoken about this issue. Almost everyone agrees that the SEMLEX deal is bad. The Prime Minister is livid about the involvement of Manyere. He thinks this is bad for the image of the country,” a source told The Bridge.
Other royal sources alleged that the culprit in all the mess was Minister of Commerce and Industry Mancoba Khumalo but The Bridge has it in authority that Khumalo has expressed equal disgust at their Manyere and SEMLEX´s presence in the country.
Officials from the Royal Science and Technology Park, Government, and eSwatini Investment Promotions Authority boycotted the event in protest at both SEMLEX and Manyere's presence in the country.
“In fact, look at the event and tell me why it was led by Mancoba when the line minister responsible is Minister of ICT. We are told that Minister Savannah Maziya decided to boycott the event in protest and Mancoba had to stand in just to not expose what is going on,” said a source who preferred to remain anonymous. It is unclear what might be the reason or the role of Manyere within SEMLEX.
However, The Bridge’s royal sources have hinted that Manyere’s presence in this week’s event, alongside the SEMLEX officials, is another reason the Nokwane-based project might hit a snag and eventually collapse.
“A lot of people inside the royal family, as well as cabinet members, are not happy about this. To add salt to the wound, vendors were left unpaid after the event and they had to bother the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of ICT, and this made authorities unhappy,” says The Bridge’s royal source.
Zimbabwean Ambassador at Large Uebert Angels
Moreover, what is clearly on the minds of numerous Swazis and possibly the world at this point is how our head of state continues to be circled by questionable characters. Perhaps this explains why we have over 89 000 documents from the Eswatini Financial Intelligence Unit leaked to foreign journalists as a form of silent protest by government bureaucrats.
What is clear from the Swazi leaks documents and the Goerge Manyere saga is that regulatory institutions in the country are routinely ignored when they exercise their supervisory role leaving officials with no choice but to leak away their frustrations.
After all, what do you do when people flaunt the King's name each time they are called to account or when politicians deliberately link the king with shady characters knowing they stand to personally benefit downstream? You have to imagine the frustration of Central Bank employees with the Farmers Bank saga or even the mess left by the SWEET.
The dust has hardly settled on the political fallout between the King and Shanmuga Rethenam, the Singaporean businessman who was given a carte blanche license to mine in Ngwenya under controversial circumstances, which led to the international headlines and public humiliation of the Monarch.
Only recently did the country wake up to reports that the King had invited Zimbabwe’s Ambassador At Large Uebert Angel to come preach in one of his many sermons. For those who do not know Angel here is a brief introduction.
Angel shot to global attention when he was exposed by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) to be involved in illicit gold trade in southern Africa and money laundering involving powerful figures in the region including Auxilia Mnangagwa, the wife of the Zimbabwean president.
The documentary exposed how several individuals have taken advantage of Western sanctions targeting the Zimbabwean government and ruling party officials to smuggle large quantities of gold and launder millions of dollars through a complex web of companies and bribes.
In the four-episode documentary, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador At Large Uebert Angel offered to use his diplomatic status to launder millions of dollars through a gold smuggling scheme, for undercover reporters posing as Asian criminals.
A few weeks after the airing of this interview, Angels was invited to preach at the palace in eSwatini and was exposed to having relations with the King's children. Talk of bad timing or rubbing it to our faces, Angels flew to the country just while the Aljazeera story was “hot” and left many question marks about the political judgement of our leaders.
What this tells us is that combined all these individuals expose that the Swazi Leaks are correct that clever local and international businessmen are now manipulating the absolute powers of the King to engage in all manner of illicit deals as long as the King is in the know and approves, then screw the law enforcement agencies and regulatory institutions.