SA performing better than countries like US in removing greylist status

While South Africa was removing itself from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF's) greylist, countries such as the US were far behind in resolving their issues, said President Cyril Ramaphosa.

He said businesses had supported the fight against corruption and crime in the country.

Ramaphosa delivered his keynote address at the AGM of Business Unity SA (Busa), highlighting the importance of investments in creating jobs and growing the economy.

He said the National Treasury was working to remove SA from the FATF grey list.

South Africa was greylisted by the FATF in February 2023 for not complying with international standards relating to money laundering and addressing illicit financial flows. The FATF found the country had serious weaknesses when assessing the deficiencies in the country’s Anti-Money Laundering and the Combating of the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CTF) regime.

While South Africa was beginning to comply with some of the identified deficiencies, more powerful countries remained on the list, including the US, Ramaphosa said.

“Just this morning [Wednesday], we were discussing it in the cabinet committee and tremendous progress has been made and will continue to be made to remove SA from this greylisting programme. What we also heard this morning, is that we are not the only country having this challenge. Mighty countries like the US, for instance, are behind us on this particular issue.

“We have nine issues left and they have about 38. They officially stated this, and I asked if they would repeat that because I [thought I] hadn’t heard it clearly.”

He said South Africa often “beat itself up” for being the worst in class and the worst in the world, but many other countries faced bigger challenges.

“[These countries] are bigger than us and much more important and much bigger economies but we are there in the field, boxing our way, way above our weight. So it was heartening to hear that a great deal of progress has been made and soon we will be able to see the light of day when it comes to the process as well,” he said.

He said the business sector provided expertise to the National Prosecuting Authority and the Investigating Directorate to manage “complex corruption investigations”.

The second phase of government’s partnership with businesses was a firm focus on job creation.

Ramaphosa said implementing this process will open a way for investments to be effective in various sectors to create employment and to put South Africa to work.

“This is where we need to strengthen our partnership with business. We are glad that businesses continue to support key programmes like the youth employment service and I can see that the numbers have been going up and we have to be grateful that business is continuing to come to the party and more young people are being brought in.” 

He said the priority was to drive inclusive growth, which was essential for creating jobs.

“And in this regard, government and business have no choice,” Ramaphosa said. “We just have to create more and more jobs, not only for fear that if we don’t do so, but our economy will also remain bound and stuck in a rut.

“It is because we are so interested in the future of our country, knowing fully well that if we do not advance forward with the programmes of job creation many risks lie in store.

“What we need to do is minimise those risks and mitigate them. One of the ways to do so is to create more jobs and, of course, more medium-sized enterprises and ensure that everybody is helping this national effort.

“It is indeed a massive overarching enforcement in job creation,” Ramaphosa said.

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