Dark Waters: Unveiling Eswatini's Role in Southern Africa’s Gold Smuggling and Money Laundering Networks

Recent leaked documents from the Eswatini Financial Intelligence Unit (EFIU) suggest that Eswatini, a country known for its royal traditions and quiet demeanor, might have a darker role in the regional economy. These documents, revealing detailed financial transactions tied to some of Eswatini’s most politically connected, beam a spotlight on a convoluted web of economic activities involving money laundering and gold smuggling across Southern Africa.

Back in 2018, Eswatini's financial authorities flagged dubious multimillion-rand transactions between AMFS, a Johannesburg-based company, and Dubai-steered business fronts. The funds, routed through entities controlled by Keenin Schofield—son-in-law to King Mswati III—and Dubai-based Alistair Mathias, were primarily suspected to mask the true source and purpose, conceived to launder money originated from illicit gold trafficking.

With over 890,000 leaked documents now known as “Swazi Secrets”, it's clear why this revelation is stirring: it implicates figures of significant stature and their supposed commingling in criminal networks. The EFIU's letters to tax authorities explicitly underscored concerns that these transactions were intended to funnel illegally obtained African gold, especially from Zimbabwe, out to the UAE.

These charges are not orphaned accusations but find associations with international exposés, including a 2023 Al Jazeera documentary revealing Alistair Mathias as a supposed architect behind a Zimbabwean gold smuggling ring, allegedly backed by the Mnangagwa regime.

How Eswatini, one of Africa’s last absolute monarchies, fits into this plot twists further into its economic design. Schofield’s ambition to set up a large gold refinery in Eswatini’s Special Economic Zone (SEZ), as conveyed, was thwarted by the inability to gather enough capital—a story that took a turn with the introduction of Mathias who led the funding. However, evidence suggests that instead of fostering economic growth in Eswatini, these financial influxes merely passed through, deepening suspicions amongst the EFIU and the Central Bank of Eswatini.

What further complicates the finance trail is Schofield's history and quick connection to Mathias. Leaked documents indicate opaque transactions following their meeting, which included several large sum direct deposits marked under ambiguous references, rapidly moved further to Dubai. This prompted the EFIU to alert the Eswatini Anti-Corruption Commission, pushing them towards scrutinizing the origin, the flow, and the abrupt outbound movement of these funds, ostensibly for purchasing gold.

The EFIU established to detect financial crimes like money laundering, worked with commercial banks and other entities, gathering intelligence but without prosecutorial powers. Schofield and Mathias's ventures—captured in bank statements and EFIU correspondence—demonstrate a classic 'layering' technique in money laundering, which involves intricate, multi-country, high-volume, and rapid transactions designed to blur origins.

Despite the ballooning evidence and subsequent investigations, both the political and economic impact of these revelations in Eswatini remain murky. The planned gold refinery never materialized, and the SEZ remains largely underutilized, casting long shadows over the real intentions behind the massive monetary maneuvers observed.

Reflecting on these disclosures, Schofield's operations suggest a young and potentially naïve businessman wading in treacherous financial waters. The economic engagements made during his alliance with Mathias are emblematic of a larger systemic issue troubling the region—how ostensibly legitimate enterprises could be vehicles for grand-scale financial crimes affecting several nations.

These compelling findings continue to resonate in Eswatini and beyond, as regional economies grapple with the implications of disrupted financial integrity, urging a more robust systemic safeguard against such exploitation, which tarnishes economic and political stability across Southern Africa.