Harare, Zimbabwe – Since March a documentary by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I unit) has shed light on the 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 footage showed how several individuals have taken advantage of Western sanctions against government officials and ruling party officials to smuggle large amounts of gold and launder millions of dollars through a complex web of corporate and bribery.
In the four-episode documentary, Zimbabwean 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.
“You want gold, gold, we can do it now, we can call now and it’s done,” Angel told Al Jazeera reporters.
“It will land in Zimbabwe – Zimbabwe can’t touch it either until I get to my house. So there may be a diplomatic plan… it’s very, very easy,” he said.
He also claimed that his money laundering operations had the approval of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who has been in power since November 2017.
But who exactly is Angel, the controversial character at the center of the documentary?
Angel the prophet
Uebert Angel, whose real name is Uebert Mudzanire, is a self-proclaimed Zimbabwean ‘prophet’, preacher and entrepreneur based in the United Kingdom.
The 44-year-old is the founder of Spirit Embassy, a church with branches in several countries, including the United Kingdom, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Born on September 6, 1978 in Zimbabwe, Angel grew up in a religious family and grew up as a Christian. He has previously claimed that he was “called as a child under the wild custard tree” by God and “was bathed in liquid love and shown the Halo,” according to the church’s website.
In 1996, he started a small prayer group in his home, which soon grew into a church.
It became known as Spirit Embassy in 2007. The church itself was renamed the “Good News Church” in October 2015, while “Spirit Embassy” became a term for its overall ministry. He is known for preaching that God wants his followers to be wealthy and for promoting doctrines called the Prosperity Gospel that claim that financial and material gain is the divine will of God for all devout Christians.
‘Wonder Money’
In 2012, Angel rose to fame for performing a series of controversial miracles, including creating what he called “miracle money.” He claimed to have prophetic powers to produce valuable commodities such as gold, diamonds, and money that could mysteriously end up in people’s pockets and bank accounts, as well as a bank vault.
The sermon was so popular that he eventually traveled across Africa performing for believers and promising them miracle money.
During his tour, he claimed to have performed a controversial weight-loss miracle in South Africa, where a woman watched in complete astonishment and agreed with him that her husband had suddenly lost weight.
His antics caught the attention of former Zimbabwean central bank chief Gideon Gono, who summoned him and ordered him to stop creating the so-called “miracle money”. But Gono later sided with Angel, saying that he had not broken any of the country’s monetary laws.
In 2018, Angel made headlines again for sensationally claiming to have successfully walked on water, one of the miracles performed by Jesus Christ in biblical times.
He later reversed this claim, explaining that the incident was a metaphorical “demonstration of faith” and not a literal walk on water.
The man who sells everything
Angel, who claims to have two college degrees in finance, is also an author and has written several books on faith and prosperity.
He also runs satellite channels, Miracle TV, GoodNews TV and Wow TV, which broadcast his crusades and sermons.
He runs his church like a business. Under the Millionaire Academy, Angel teaches the fundamentals of becoming a millionaire and targets business owners who want to develop their businesses “into something bigger than themselves in his church and beyond”.
His Osborne Institute of Theology charges £499.00 for a Theological Certificate and £799 for a Diploma. The ministry sells merchandise, hosts conventions, takes offers online through Visa and PayPal, and offers what it calls “prophetic retreats.”
Other controversies
In 2014, he was charged with fraud and money laundering by a former member of his church in the UK. He has also been criticized for his lavish lifestyle, which includes luxury cars, private jets, and expensive homes.
In one of many documented cases of sexual misconduct, Angel was accused of asking a female congregation member to send him nude photos of herself on Twitter and WhatsApp. The digital communication records are authenticated by Twitter for IP addresses.
Angel tried to destroy the data, but it was recovered and put together into a documentary. He has faced other allegations of infidelity and has shown no remorse when faced with evidence of his wrongdoings.
“You see that moral failure is not a crime. I’m dealing with the law here (and) moral failure is not a crime,” he said in the documentary from ZimEye, a local news website.
In March 2021, he was appointed Ambassador General and Presidential Envoy by Mnangagwa. It was in this capacity that he told Al Jazeera that he could facilitate a scheme to exchange unexplained cash for Zimbabwe’s gold.