Bank probe tracks Zim 'super-rich'

The ongoing probe into the affairs of the now defunct SME Bank has uncovered a financial web that includes N$150 million of the N$196 million 'invested' with Mamepe Capital ending up with companies that share bank accounts and are allegedly linked to super-rich Zimbabwean businessmen. During 2013 and 2014, the SME Bank invested about N$196 million in Mamepe Capital, a South African black empowerment financial services company headed by Mauwane Kotane, the grandson of the late Moses Kotane, a treason trial accused and South African Communist Party veteran. But what happened to the bulk of the money after that has led liquidators on a path that has unmasked alleged links to affluent Zimbabwean businessmen. Liquidators David Bruni and Ian McLaren have reported that N$150 million of the initial Mamepe investment was transferred into bank accounts with differing names, including Asset Movement and Financial Services (AMFS), DMA Consultants, Mamepe Capital Asset Managers, Moody Blue and Transparency.com, but with overlapping account numbers. An amount of N$85.9 million was deposited into AMFS, which has the same account number as Mamepe and that of Moody Blue. Close to N$6 million was paid into DMA Consultants' account, which has the same account number as Mamepe Capital. Mamepe Capital Asset Managers, which shares account numbers with AMFS and Moody Blue, received N$87.3 million. Over N$1.6 million was paid into Moody Blue's account, which has the same account number as AMFS and Mamepe Capital. More than N$8 million was paid over to Transparency.com that shares the same bank account number with Mamepe Capital. According to a document seen by Namibian Sun, an “investor participant” of AMFS is a certain Zimbabwean national Chamu Tsvakai, who has an address in Johannesburg's upmarket Sandton suburb, and has apparent links to Benoni-based business people. AMFS at one stage had drawn up a “preference shares subscription/member's loan agreement” with a certain Omulunga Capital Investments, of which a Cosmas Mushininga was confirmed as the director at the time the agreement was formulated. Mushininga, who is also a Zimbabwean national, describes himself as a businessman and “strong Christian” on his Twitter account, with companies in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia. His business interests include mining, earthmoving, commodity broking and capital investment. It is not clear if the agreement was clinched and what it entailed, but by the time the shenanigans were uncovered at SME Bank, Mushininga boasted on Twitter about trips to Germany, France and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In one of the posts he was described as a “super-rich guy” and “billion boss”. Bruni and McLaren estimated that of the N$196 million paid over to Mamepe, only about N$32.7 million was recoverable. Former SME Bank chief internal auditor Mathews Kanyenze, a Zimbabwean national, wrote in an August 2017 report that the Mamepe investment was at the behest of former bank CEO Tawanda Mumvuma, who is also a Zimbabwean. He wrote that Mumvuma had instructed the finance department, under the leadership of Joseph Banda (another Zimbabwean), to debit an investment account in the general ledger and credit Mamepe, through various South African banks. Kanyenze reported that the treasury front desk, the office from which these transactions were supposed to originate from, was avoided during the transaction. He also claimed that by 2016, when the transfers were reported to the Bank of Namibia (BoN), the internal auditors had already raised their concerns as far back as 2014 in their reports to the SME Bank's compliance and anti-money-laundering department. According to Mamepe's website, the word 'mamepe' emanates from an “imagination of the land flowing with milk and honey”, purportedly a desire it holds for its stakeholders and investors. The company boasts about a relationship with Deutsche Bank, which it stated is “to the disproportionate advantage” of Mamepe. Govt investment The ongoing probe has also revealed how after being capitalised by the Namibian government to the tune of N$900 million and receiving deposits from a range of state-owned enterprises, the SME Bank had cash liquidity of a mere N$3.9 million, when a provisional liquidation order was obtained. The reckless abandon with which state and other depositor money was handled emerged in an urgent High Court application by the liquidators last Friday, in which they had sought the right to pursue any proceedings, as required, in the high courts of South Africa and Zimbabwe to retrieve the bank's missing funds. The court papers outlined the frantic attempts by parastatals to retrieve the money they had invested at the SME Bank, which included the National Energy Fund, under the mines and energy ministry, which urgently wanted to disinvest its N$368.4 million from the bank. The investment had a maturity date of September 2017 onwards, but N$117.6 million was in a call account and does not have a maturity date. On 5 July 2017, the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) wanted to disinvest the N$100 million it had invested at the SME Bank.The Social Security Commission (SSC) had invested N$150 million with the SME Bank. NamWater was able to get back N$90 million of its initial N$140 million it had invested there. Bruni and McLaren stated in their affidavit that by October 2017 about 600 out of a potential 24 700 claims from depositors were received. The liquidators said there were about 18 000 “affected customers” and investors in SME Bank.CATHERINE SASMAN

Bank probe tracks Zim 'super-rich'

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Namibian Sun 2026-03-13

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Bank probe tracks Zim 'super-rich'

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Namibian Sun 2026-03-13

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