(In reaction to the confession of Mamazane Maphumulo nee Mapanga, Sunday Service 18 May 2025, Mission Kwasizabantu, and the death of Jannie le Roux on 21 May, and the radio interview with Lidia Dube on 23 May on Radio Khwezi.)
I apologise if this response is a bit lengthy, but it is needed to go about it rather comprehensively.
Listening to the confession of Mamazane to the KSB Congregation left me stunned, and speechless. Overcoming my initial shock to what I was hearing, I started to focus in on precisely to what is being said. Some impressions though were vivid in the stark reality of the event in progress. But, to give some context to the confession, I must give some background on Mamazane, on who she is in terms of KSB and with regards to that for which she has apologised. To me observing her whilst she was speaking and listening to her voice one thing was very clear, there was very little if any repentance and sorrow for what she has done and apologising to have had done. There was little observable joy and life in the eyes and the words spoken for that matter.
Mamazane Mapumulo is a controversial witness to all that has taken place at KSB. She was a “double agent” moving between the leadership of KSB and the individuals she mentioned, those who spoke out against KSB, sharing information both ways and looking to establish benefits for herself in the process. But she went “rogue” at times and proved to be unpredictable, mixing truth and lies in a powerful way, many a time earning severe reprimands from her handlers at KSB. She was a “pampered darling” at KSB and to this day she is being manipulated to KSB’s will. At the beginning of her career, she was high flying, personal assistant to Lidia Dube (LTD), standing in the KSB pulpit doing poems and act as praise singer for Erlo Stegen at times.
She was pushed at all levels of KSB, the management and spiritual levels. She has fallen from grace though when she fell pregnant out of wedlock. But she had intimate knowledge of LTD’s social, spiritual, and physical life situations. Her revelations, testimonies, and confessions must however be weighed in the light of the corporate and individual testimonies of other people, for being plausible and true or lies. It is good when her revelations, testimonies and confessions are corroborated by other testimonies.
She worked at Aquellé Office at KSB after completing her matric at Domino Servite Mission School. She was personal assistant to Lidia Dube. She was bookkeeper of Lidia Dube’s Kingscliff Supermarket and other businesses as well as bookkeeper for LTD’s brother, Jabulane Dube’s, businesses. She indeed was a very trusted and used confidant of the Dube’s. But even more than that, Lidia’s assistant is remembered for:
Her long-time assistant Mamezane Mapumulo had as much criminal energy as her boss Lidia Dube. Although she was already facing legal proceedings for presumption of authority and fraud, which then brought her five years in prison, she attempted to use her alleged knowledge of the still unsolved ominous money transports of 150 million rand (approx. 9 million euros) on the mission itself to get her hands on the big money. She lured James Stegen, a nephew of Erlo Stegen who is no longer part of the mission, into an ambush not far from Richards Bay. using weapons, several men forced him to transfer several hundred thousand rand to Mamazane’s account via mobile phone in her presence. Mamezane then fled with the men and James’ mobile phone, but he was just able to stop the transfer at a bank in Richards Bay. She was convicted in May 2022. For robbery and kidnapping. 12 years imprisonment!
( See: „Nobody can catch us, nobody gets us….“ https://ksb-alert.com/2023/04/21/nobody-can-catch-us-nobody-gets-us/. Posted 21 April 2023. Pages 2 of 7.)
Concerning information confessed by her, it would seem necessary to establish whether the information is corroborated by other witnesses as there is currently a concerted effort to discredit her previous acknowledgements and evelations. It should be noted that Mamazane was a “double agent”, whilst sharing information with Peet Botha, James Stegen and others, she was always reporting back to her handler, Lidia Dube (LTD). To what extend the information given to people, as mentioned in her confession, was received or approved from LTD et al, is not possible to determine, at least for now. Therefore, it is important to substantiate with the information others have revealed, to establish the true facts with regards to her revelations. We did not know it at that time, but all the WhatsApp messages, voice recordings and discussions with Mamazane, ended up with LTD and her cohorts. This would have remained a secret, was it not that Susan Puren, journalist at Noseweek Magazine, revealed the information in her quest to make the three of us mentioned, the “conspirators to take over KSB.” She (Puren) ended up receiving the Mamazane WhatsApp strings from KSB (LTD?) and wrote:
(File Docs. 12-Additional Docs. 12.13-Noseweek1Kwasizabantu. Post author: By Susan Puren. Post date7 Sep 2021. https://noseweek.co.za/wp/article/kwasizabantu-chapter-two/. Accessed 12 October 2023, 20:15.)
Unbeknown to James back then, Maphumulo was reporting a different version of their lunch conversation back to Dube. Noseweek has seen 35 WhatsApp messages that she sent over a period of two days in May 2019 starting with: “I really miss the mission. I would like to come there to confess my sins. I don’t need many things; I just need Jesus.” Three hours later she wrote to Dube: “They are trying to create a story saying what you did with the money.” In the messages Maphumulo referred to all the claims she had made against Dube at the lunch, but she tells Dube they were made by James instead. For example, she named the same three people that she had claimed were killed on Dube’s orders but told Dube in the messages that it was James who made the claim. In other messages she said: “They heard that you have a drug dealing business“ and “It is said there is a witchdoctor that you occasionally go to.
The confession on Sunday 18 May, was a carefully composed event. Mamazane was standing in front of two men she accused of immoral and criminal acts, one with whom she testified to have delivered some of the stolen millions to Ndlela at times and spent hours upon hours alone with him driving around KZN, contra KSB conventions in place. She put great effort into putting all blame to herself, exonerating Lidia Dube and even in the process implicating the late Erlo Stegen in the process. Her confession was riddled with inconsistencies and red flag information, even “brand new information”, and she dropped pieces of information in her confession she had no clue about, for example, the “group” she was part of that never existed, the trouble in the European branches she had no part in, mentioned meetings she attended that never took place, Arno and Jimmy to take over the Mission which is a new information and the “financial papers” story that she was totally not involved in.
Let’s just get something straight here, and I have been busy with these issues for many years; to my knowledge Arno never was involved in any of this ever, for all our differences with one another I can admire him for this, he was a KSB loyalist and true to Erlo Stegen to the day he was shunned from KSB. Mamazane does not have the dimmest idea of what she was talking about. She was just confessing what she was told to confess, and she was forced to tell lies, and she did so without any apparent embarrassment or remorse, and trying to pass it on as the truth lying in an obvious and brazen manner, with a false aura of sincerity, not even being sorrowful and broken for sins committed.
Her confession was in stark contrast to the established facts of the KSB appointed Independent Panel’s findings. This would be evident to anyone who has seen the report’s findings. But then again, most people she was talking to on Sunday, has never had it under eyes.
The KSB Independent Panel investigated and found:
174. We interviewed various witnesses and reviewed numerous of documents. Our investigation revealed the following:
174.1. From about November 2015 to December 2018 an amount of R145,737,645.51 was paid out by the Mission and was advanced as loans to a certain Ndlela;
174.2. Ndlela’s real name is Canaan Ndlovu;
174.3. There were no loan agreements or repayment terms for the loans;
174.4. All amounts were advanced to Ndlela in cash;
174.5. To obtain the cash, the Mission would transfer money electronically to one of its businesses, Saverite Supermarket, and would then obtain the cash from Saverite’s takings;
174.6. The Mission would transfer money to various businesses belonging to other people and would in turn receive cash from those businesses. These businesses were:
(i) Kingscliffe Supermarket which is wholly owned by Lidia Dube - R9,848,520.00;
(ii) Pester Saving (Harding Spar) which is owned by a friend and congregant at the Mission - R82,707,000.00;
(iii) Emseni Farming - R46,318,350.00;
(iv) other individuals - R6, 863,775.51.
174.7. The money would be delivered to Ndlela in various locations;
174.8. Three trustees signed resolutions to lend the money to Ndlela, namely, Rev Stegen, Lidia Dube and Eunice Ngcamu;
174.9. Ndlela had come to the Mission under the CYPSA programme which helps people with addiction issues;
174.10. The loan was never repaid and was impaired in 2020.
175. We spoke to various people at the Mission about this loan. We enquired the reasons why Ndlela was given this amount of money over a long period of time. We were informed that Ndlela had given the Mission various reasons why he needed the money. On all occasions the loan would be approved by Rev Stegen before money was given to Ndlela.
176. We have decided to not reveal the reasons which were allegedly furnished to the Mission by Ndlela. We do so for the following reasons:
176.1. names of prominent people are involved; and
176.2. we did not speak to the mentioned people to verify the information given to us.
177. We deem it necessary however to mention that we found the reasons implausible.
212. All the parties we interviewed in respect of the loan money to Ndlela indicated that he always communicated his requests for money to Rev Stegen, who would in turn ask for arrangements to be made so that the money could be paid over.
213. In light of what we have said about Rev Stegen’s state of mind and what we have been told in that regard, it is concerning that he would have been allowed to make decisions involving such large amounts of money (although the last payment made was almost two years ago).
214. When we asked Rev Stegen about the money he denied any knowledge of the loan, but he later seemed to be confused about who Ndlela was.
TOR 4 – Money laundering allegation
18. The Mission must immediately make efforts to recover the money from Ndlela.
19. The Mission must report this matter to the police for an investigation to be conducted.
Now compare the above with the WhatsApp messages from Mamazane and obviously also with her confession on 18th May. Her so called “lies of the past” for which she apologised seems to be a validated truth by the Independent Panel after all:
[6/28/19, 12:50:10] Mamazane Mapumulo: then we started putting the Millions together.I remember when money would be needed we would take the money with the people bring for the tithe
[6/28/19, 12:50:43] Mamazane Mapumulo: 10% of their salaries I hope that's what its called in English - the tithe
[6/28/19, 12:51:38] Mamazane Mapumulo: We would take cash from the concerned community boys Wages
[6/28/19, 12:54:28] Mamazane Mapumulo: We would go and demand money from uncle Werner I remember how aunt T mistreated that old man when he would complain and say he is busy but when money was needed he had to leave everything and attend to us with the cash
[6/28/19, 12:54:34] Mamazane Mapumulo: We would contact baba from Spar Dalton
[6/28/19, 12:54:38] Mamazane Mapumulo: We would get some cash from Peter Dalhl
[6/28/19, 12:54:41] Mamazane Mapumulo: This was just the beginning
The Independent Panel of KSB was deliberate and clear concerning Lidia Dube, and their conclusions just simply collaborate the things Mamazane has said, testified, revealed and confessed. I do a lengthy quote from the report again. It is insinuated that Lidia Dube lied to the members of the Independent Panel:
195. A review of the Kingscliffe account revealed the following:
195.1. The Mission started depositing money in the account in February 2016. An amount of R900 000.00 was first deposited on 25 February 2016;
195.2. Thereafter different amounts were deposited from the Mission’s companies throughout 2016, 2017 and 2018. The total amount which was deposited in the Kingscliffe account, and referenced as Ndlela loan, was R9, 848,520.00;
195.3. There were no withdrawals commensurate with the deposits.
196. We requested a follow-up interview with Ms Lidia Dube (“Ms Dube”) to clarify some the statements for us.
197. Ms Dube told us that all the payments into Kingscliffe’s account from the Mission were refunds of the money which she would have already advanced to the Mission for the loan to Ndlela. The money was given to the Mission from the daily cash takings at the supermarket.
198. Regarding the first deposit of R900 000.00, Ms Dube told us that the Mission needed R900 000.00 and had asked her if she could advance the cash to it. She had then withdrawn cash from the bank on two consecutive days in the amounts of R500 000.00 and R400 000.00 respectively. She then gave the money to the Mission for Ndlela’s loan. She further stated that the Mission then refunded her the money on 25 February 2016 as appears on the bank statement.
199. We could not find any withdrawals of R500 000.00 and R400 000.00 prior to 25 February 2016 as mentioned by Ms Dube. We could not get a conclusive answer from Ms Dube when we asked for clarity in this regard. She indicated she would come back to us at a later stage after she had done proper research. She had not come to us at the time of drafting the report.
200. We were further concerned that an analysis of Kingscliffe’s account for the months prior to February 2016 revealed that it was not profitable enough to be able to advance such large amounts of cash to the Mission. When we enquired from Ms Dube, she indicated that she would collect money from other people who had been approached by the Mission and she would in turn transmit the money to the Missionin a lump sum.
201. We could not see any deposits to other people which would have been made subsequent to the Mission refunding the money. We could not reconcile Ms Dube’s version with the bank statements.
202. We asked for proof of all the amounts that Ms Dube alleges she had advanced to the Mission. We had not been furnished with these at the time of the drafting of the report.
203. We were initially informed that Ms Dube did not have a personal bank account, but it transpired from our follow up interview that she actually did. We asked for the bank statements of the said account for the period 2015 – 2018. At the time of drafting the report we had not been furnished with the said bank statements.
204. We were furnished with the audited financial statements of Kingscliffe for 2015 and 2016 (subsequent years have not been completed). We could not see any indication of loans that Kingscliffe had advanced to the Mission. The financial statements also confirmed our finding that Kingscliffe was not profitable enough to have cash on hand to advance such large sums of money.
205. We were also concerned that the loan to Ndlela was initially shown in the books to have been taken by Ms Dube. At the end of 2016 the loan amount stood at R8,380,000.00 and it was in Ms Dube’s name.
206. At the end of 2017 the loan amount stood at R72, 060,896.00 and it was still in Ms Dube’s name.
207. At the end of 2018 the loan amount stood at R105, 357,993.00 and it was then changed and was recorded in Ndlela’s name.
208. The bulk of the money loaned to Ndlela was moved through an entity called Pester Savings. We were informed that this entity trade as a Spar Supermarket in Harding. R82, 707,000.00 was deposited by the Mission into this account.
211. It is for this reason that our findings in respect of this TOR are inconclusive. We do however recommend that a forensic and/or police investigation be conducted.
212. All the parties we interviewed in respect of the loan money to Ndlela indicated that he always communicated his requests for money to Rev Stegen, who would in turn ask for arrangements to be made so that the money could be paid over.
213. In light of what we have said about Rev Stegen’s state of mind and what we have been told in that regard, it is concerning that he would have been allowed to make decisions involving such large amounts of money (although the last payment made was almost two years ago).
214. When we asked Rev Stegen about the money he denied any knowledge of the loan, but he later seemed to be confused about who Ndlela was.
Concerning a current leader at KSB Mamazane was adamant he was sexually immoral even when married. She characterised him as a adulterer. I made the same case in my submission to the Independent Panel, having spoken to the victim and was verbally abused for my “lies” concerning this man by KSB leaders. The detail I will not mention here. However, the independent panel validated the testimony of both Mamazane and the victim:
91. Dr Botha stated that Joyce was allegedly raped by one of the co-workers at the Mission. Joyce was working at the co-worker’s house. Dr Botha did not know when Joyce was allegedly raped, however he stated that Joyce told him about the alleged rape in 2016 / 2017. Joyce told him she had been threatened that she would be killed if she told anyone about the rape.
92. We asked Dr Botha whether he reported the alleged rape to the police subsequent to Joyce confiding in him and he answered in the negative. He told us Joyce did not want him to speak to anyone about the alleged rape.
93. Dr Botha stated he reported the alleged rape to Rev Stegen. Dr Botha stated that he understood that Rev Stegen spoke to the alleged perpetrator about the rape because Joyce had come back to him and pleaded with him to not speak about the alleged rape.
94. We spoke to the alleged perpetrator who is still at the Mission. He admitted to having had sex with Joyce. He contended that the sex had been consensual and that he was the one who told Rev Stegen about it because he felt guilty about having had sex outside of his marriage. Our ability to make a finding about this incident was hampered by not being able to interview Joyce. (Joyce the alias name used in report – ed)
Concerning Arno being mentioned in Mamazane’s confession it is worth noting that the Independent Panel exonerated Arno totally from any involvement of an “takeover” of the Mission or any involvement in the payment of the money to Ndlela:
222. During our review of the payment requisitions for the Ndlela loan we came across some that had not been signed off / authorised for payments. Mr Muller told us that at times Arno would sometimes issue payment instructions over the telephone and the payments would then be processed without the payment requisitions being signed off.
223. Mr Muller was at pains to explain that the payment instructions for the Ndlela loan came from Arno. Most of our questions that could not be answered about the Ndlela loan were blamed on Arno. We raised the following concerns with Mr Muller:
223.1. none of the payment requisitions for the R145 million loan to Ndlela were signed by Arno; and
223.2. none of the resolutions to lend money to Ndlela were signed by Arno.
224. Mr Muller could not give us an explanation for the anomalies mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
225. When we enquired from Ms Dube why the loan was initially recorded in her name, she put the blame squarely on Arno and said that she was in fact unaware that her name had been used in this manner. She stated that she had told Arno that the loan should be removed from her name.
226. We asked Ms Dube why Arno had not signed any of the resolutions approving the loan to Ndlela and she could not answer us.
227. In our investigation into the Ndlela loan we could not find any evidence that Arno had been involved in the payments of money to Ndlela. In as much as the Mission was promoting that Arno had been instrumental in the loan to Ndlela, we could find no basis for that assertion.
I think I have made the point. Mamazane have lied in her confession on 18th May. Why? Simply because she was pressured into lying by those controlling her.
The leadership of KSB has gone to great lengths to direct attention away from the truth of the revelations done by a many people. What Mamazane said is minute compared to the quantity of pages on hand concerning Lidia Dube and cohorts. Mamazane is just a further disposable pawn in the chess game KSB is playing. It has been, since 2019, the main effort of the Mission to fabricate a ridiculous paradigm in which Arno, Jimmy, Koos, Peet and Erica wanted to “take over” the Mission. This narrative was propagated in co-workers’meetings at KSB and the writings by Puren in Noseweek and the book of Potgieter and radio interviews done with Dirk Combrinck and a few days ago with Lidia Dube. The confession of Mamazane was meant to be another building block in the overall case being built that a “take over” of KSB was the imperative causing all the trouble.
Lidia Dube did her best in the Radio Khwezi Radio interview to exonerate herself of all blame and oh so subtle blame others, like Barney Mabaso. She knows everything, takes everything to the Lord, forgives everyone and claims innocence in everything. Yet, behind all of this is a revealed life of criminal activities for which her mother Hilda Dube, in tears profusely apologised on Lidia Dube’s behalf, multitude of lies, intentional disengagement with official investigations and pushing false conspiracies like Friedel Stegen and sons wanted to take over the Mission. Listening to Lidia Dube doing the Radio Khwezi interview, her testimony puts blame on everyone else but herself. The reality by which she judges herself is lightyears removed from the established life she lived.
The greatest sadness to me, is not so much in what has been said by Mamazane, and for that matter Lidia Dube. But in the fact that these leaders at KSB have such a profound lack of humbleness to acknowledge their own sins and wrongs, and unendingly hound those who dared to call them out and, in the process, fabricating more untruths and telling more lies. To my mind KSB’s leaders would do better to hold their piece until the opportunity is there to do so in the pending court cases, to state their case. For this is sure Lidia Dube, Mamazane and others at KSB, as well as those they have summoned to court, will have to state their case and prove their “truths”.
Surely, the pulpit is not the place to play theirgames!
3 Files. 7-Reports on KSB. 7.2- 2020 Final Report Kwasizabantu Mission by Independent Panel. TOR 4. Mission involved in Money Laundering. Pages 54-56 of 137.
4 Files. 7-Reports on KSB. 7.2- 2020 Final Report Kwasizabantu Mission by Independent Panel. TOR 4. Mission involved in Money Laundering. Pages 62 of 137.
5 Files. 7-Reports on KSB. 7.2- 2020 Final Report Kwasizabantu Mission by Independent Panel. TOR 4. Mission involved in Money Laundering. Pages 73 of 137.
6 Court File Docs. 12-Additional Docs. 12.45- PH and MM. WhatsApp string discussion. Page 23. 28 June 2019.