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‘ANC government is dishonest about impact of grey list status’

The economic impact of the Financial Task Force’s grey listing South Africa and steps required to exit the grey list.

When a government is grey listed by the International Financial Action Task Force (FATF) it should serve as a wake-up call. But it made no impression on the ANC.

Instead, government is misleading itself and the people about the detrimental impact of the country’s grey list status.

The FATF keeps watch over international money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

Government was repeatedly warned that it will end up on the grey list and that action should be taken to avoid it. These warnings were ignored.

Improvement was mainly needed in two areas; the first was making relevant legislative amendments. This was postponed until it was too late, even though questions were frequently asked about the delays in addressing the matter in the relevant parliamentary Portfolio Committee.

On top of that, thoughtless legislative amendments were proposed without fully considering the implications thereof.

This delayed the process to such an extent that even members of the ANC were unhappy about the way in which the National Treasury and other departments handled the matter.

Grey list status essentially means that the government no longer instils any confidence, no matter how much government tries to deny it.

The fact that more persons were recently implicated in terrorist activities and money laundering in South Africa proves that the right mechanisms needed to combat it are not in place.

While the National Treasury and others are working hard to get the country off the grey list, President Cyril Ramaphosa created even more confusion with his initial erroneous announcement that South Africa would withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The implications would have been far-reaching. Essentially, South Africa could have become some kind of sanctuary for criminals and terrorists as extraditing them would not have been possible.

To make matters even worse, the President himself is personally linked to undeclared foreign currency found hidden under a mattress in his home. So, it should come as no surprise that South Africa has landed on the grey list.

The only way to get off the grey list, restore investor confidence, and get the economy back on track is to get rid of the ANC government.

Read the original article in Afrikaans by Wouter Wessels on FF Plus

The post ‘ANC government is dishonest about impact of grey list status’ appeared first on South Africa Today.