Amabhungane | The Anc, The Megachurch, And The Money Flows Through 'god's Laundry'

• More than R2 million of ANC-linked money may have flowed to Eswatini's Deputy Prime Minister, #SwaziSecrets leaks suggest.
• Controversial Archbishop Bheki Lukhele seemingly acted as 'God's launderer'.
• The leak shows that banks and Eswatini Financial Intelligence Unit did their job, but law enforcement was nowhere to be seen.
• For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page .

In 2018, self-proclaimed Archbishop Bheki Lukhele officially opened the headquarters of his All Nations Christian Church in Zion in Ezulwini, a town near Mbabane, the capital city of Eswatini.

Reports indicate that All Nations erected at least two church structures that year, the second in South Africa's Kwazulu-Natal province.

A year later, the headline of an article covering the opening of another new building in an area of Eswatini called KaShoba declared: 'No Evil Money With Bishop Lukhele Chief.'

According to the article, 'rumours' had been circulating that Archbishop Lukhele held 'evil money,' and the chief of KaShoba wanted to set the record straight.

Now, a leaked cache of financial intelligence documents seen by amaBhungane suggests the rumours were not so far off the mark.

Not only was the source of Lukhele's money suspect, but so were some of the beneficiaries.

Lukhele's bank statements show that he regularly doled out cash to 'prominent' politically exposed persons in the kingdom, including members of Eswatini's Parliament, the then Mayor of Mbabane and most significantly the former Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku.

It appears that Masuku received over R2 million from Lukhele between 2018 and 2020.

The money flows started while he was still the administrator of one of Eswatini's four regions, Shiselweni. The role of regional administrator in Eswatini is similar to that of a South African provincial premier.

AmaBhungane's investigation shows that the first payments happened about five months before Masuku was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and continued throughout his term of office.

More Swazi Secrets

In Part One of our investigation, we chronicled how Lukhele received over R200 million between 2015 and 2021 from a cluster of suspected front companies ostensibly controlled by individuals who had access to the coffers of South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC).

Swazi Secrets is an investigative project coordinated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The project is based on 890 000 leaked documents from Eswatini's Financial Intelligence Unit (EFIU), which ICIJ shared with a team of 38 journalists across 11 countries.

The EFIU is a statutory agency responsible for gathering, analysing and distributing intelligence about suspicious transactions to the relevant authorities in an effort to combat money laundering and terrorism financing through the kingdom's financial system.

Bank statements from the leaks reveal how a stream of deposits to Lukhele's personal and church accounts caught the attention of Eswatini's financial regulators, whose subsequent probing uncovered a suspected money laundering scheme implicating the ANC's head of finance Bongani 'Bongo' Mahlalela, as well as his good friend Sibusisiwe Mngomezulu.

Mngomezulu is the brother of one of King Mswati's wives, Sibonelo, known as Inkhosikati LaMbikiza. He is currently the ambassador of Eswatini to Belgium and previously worked as an executive in the ANC's investment arm, Chancellor House Holdings.

Leaked documents from EFIU reveal how traces of Lukhele's riches lead back to the ANC's Election Fund account, aided by the ambassador and the ANC moneyman.

Now, in Part Two, we go to Eswatini and try to trace where some of the money went while uncovering the techniques Lukhele appears to have used to conceal what he was doing.

In addition to politicians, Lukhele appears to have made payments to several police stations, popular gospel singers and pastors.

A transaction analysis of Archbishop Lukhele's bank statements shows that once the money was in the man of God's accounts, he engaged in what appears to be further laundering through unusual, complicated transfers and purchases.

It is difficult to pinpoint where most of the money ultimately ended up due to the complex transfers Lukhele made to himself and various beneficiaries.

Who is Archbishop Rebios Sigaca Lukhele?

Archbishop Lukhele is something of an enigma. You will struggle to find any online reports about the man or his church from before 2017, not even from people who belong to the chur