DA urges Finance Minister to take action on terrorism financing in South Africa

2 March 2022

Note to Editors: Please find an attached soundbite by Ashor Sarupen MP.

The DA is alarmed that the US treasury has identified and sanctioned individuals operating out of South Africa and using the South African financial system in order to assist or financially facilitate the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and ISIS Mozambique.

We urge the Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, to take urgent action through the various regulators to ensure that we protect the reputation of South Africa’s financial system, including closing accounts used for funding terrorism, and referring irregular transactions to law enforcement forthwith. The DA further urges the Minister to work closely with foreign treasury departments to ensure that existing cases of South Africa being used as a base to finance terrorism is ended with haste.

According to the report from the US Treasury Department on these sanctions, the South African financial system is being exploited to facilitate funding for terrorism, and further notes that ISIS is rapidly expanding its footprint on the African Continent. The report identifies ISIS cells in both Durban and Cape Town, as well as financiers facilitating weapons trade, recruitment and other activities.

South Africa’s robust financial system should not be a safe haven for terrorism, nor should it be subject to abuse by terrorists who harm innocent people on our continent and abroad. The country is currently non-compliant with the standards of the intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force (FAFT ), as well as the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) that is meant to be tracking illicit transactions.

The DA will be asking questions in parliament to ensure this matter is dealt with.

Issued by Ashor Sarupen, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Finance, 2 March 2022