By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE:King Mswati was allegedly tricked by his own son Prince Lindani and the Chairman of the Mines and Minerals Board Prince Guduza in what appears to be one of the biggest smuggling of a multibillion mineral scandal.

An independent investigation conducted by this Swaziland News uncovered that, Mines and Minerals Board Chairman Prince Guduza colluded with Prince Lindani to award a Prospecting Mining License to Steven Hu, a Mainland China investor who was misled by Lindani and Guduza to use Taiwan businessman Michael Lee as a ‘front’ alleging that, King Mswati “does not deal with Mainland China investors amid diplomatic tension between eSwatini and the People’s Republic China(PRC).

As a result, Chinese investor Steven Hu partnered with Taiwan businessman Michael Lee to establish a company known as Michael Lee Enterprise and, the Green Chert Malolotja Mining Prospecting License was granted.

It has been disclosed that in the process, King Mswati was mislead by Guduza, Lindani and the investors that the mineral was “being transported to China for ‘testing’ when in fact the Mine was in full operation, smuggling the Green Chert worth over R4billion to China”.

But information gathered by this Swaziland News from Chinese law enforcement institutions suggests that, the smuggled mineral was intercepted and subsequently detained in China after investor Steven Hu and Michael Lee failed to produce the necessary documents detailing how the mineral was transported from eSwatini to the People’s Republic of China.

In fact and as previously reported by this publication, the mining was conducted in complete disregard of international environmental laws.

But on or around 24th October 2024 and in the midst of a separate investigation regarding the alleged illegal mining, Eswatini Environmental Authority(EEA) Executive Director Gcina Dladla told this publication that, even though the Mine was operating without a mining license, it was granted authority through a Prospecting License to temporarily mine and test the market.

“What happened is; they first used a Prospecting License, this is a license that allowed them to search for the mineral and temporarily do the mining to test the market before going on full scale mining. They wanted to mine five thousand(5000) tones but we suggested that, with the Prospecting License, they must at least mine two thousand(2000) tones. So if you can verify with the other Mines, most of them started with the Prospecting License before the Environmental Assessment, that then authorizes the full scale mining”, said the Environmental Authority Executive Director.

But now, new information has emerged suggesting that, Michael Lee Enterprises was not ‘testing’ the market but the investors had embarked on a full scale mining, smuggling the mineral while being shielded by Mines and Mineral Board Chairman Prince Guduza, Mswati’s son Prince Lindani and other members of the Mines and Minerals Board.

It has been disclosed that in the process, Prince Guduza, Prince Lindani and others very close to the King, benefited millions for assisting Chinese investor Steven Hu and Taiwan businessman Michael Lee to smuggle the mineral to China.

As a result, an investigation is being conducted by this publication to verify the millions allegedly pocketed by Prince Guduza and others in this multibillion Green Chert smuggling scandal.

Minerals Board Chairman Prince Guduza and Prince Lindani declined to comment regarding these smuggling of the Green Chert mineral allegations.

Reached for comments earlier, King’s Spokesperson Percy Simelane said, the process of establishing the Mine started before he was employed as the King’s Spokesperson, he referred comments to the Mines and Minerals Board. 

“I am not aware.To the best of my knowledge that Mine was in operation before my office was born.The King has Boards,Teams and Committees who are hands-on in all the country's socio-economic evolution.I want to believe the Mining Board in the matter in question is better positioned to respond to your queries”, said the King’s Spokesperson.

Eswatini is a tiny Kingdom situated in Southern African with about 70% of the population living below the poverty line, minerals and other State resources are benefiting the King, members of the royal family and others close to the Monarch.