The Southern African Development Community (SADC) region continues its commitment to strengthen resilience against money laundering, terrorism financing and related financial crimes.
This is as the region faces common vulnerabilities, including the misuse of digital payment platforms, concealment of beneficial ownership and increasing sophistication of cross-border money laundering networks.
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Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg noted that government also remained firmly committed to strengthening the legal, institutional and operational framework for combating financial fraud and crimes.
The minister was speaking during the 4th SADC Anti-Money Laundering-Counter Finance Terrorism (AML-CFT) conference held at the Royal Villas yesterday.
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He said the country continues to take concrete steps to strengthen the AML-CFT framework in line with international and regional best practises.
Rijkenberg said the meeting came at a particularly important moment for the region, where financial crimes and illicit financial flows continue to pose serious challenges, undermining economic growth, eroding good governance and threatening the stability of financial systems.
Despite these challenges, he stated that the region had demonstrated remarkable resilience, determination and unity.
He said through the SADC AML-CFT Committee and Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG), they continued to deepen cooperation and enhanced exchange of information, and strengthen alignment with international Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards.
The two-day meeting brings together representatives from the SADC Secretariat, ESAAMLG Secretariat, and Member States.
“Government enhanced the legislative framework through the amendments of the Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Prevention Act to address deficiencies identified in our mutual evaluation.
We have strengthened the Financial Incentives Centre enabling it to improve data analysis, reporting mechanisms and inter-agency cooperation.
“We have established closer coordination among supervisory authorities, including the Central Bank, law enforcement agencies, and the ministry of finance to ensure a holistic approach to compliance and enforcement, and engaged the private sector, especially financial institutions in awareness and training programmes to build a culture of compliance and risk-based supervision,” he said.
He said strides made by the country were through the collaboration and coordinated efforts of the financial sector especially those in the AML-CFT National Task Force. He encouraged open, constructive and forward-looking discussions, focussing not only on compliance, but also on building resilient and inclusive financial systems that safeguard economies. “Let us renew our shared commitment to transparency, integrity and accountability. These are values that underpin sustainable development and regional integration within the SADC region,” added Rijkenberg.
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Meanwhile, Principal Secretary (PS) Vusi Dlamini noted that SADC has demonstrated unwavering commitment to strengthening cooperation in the fight against money laundering, the financing of terrorism and proliferation of illicit financial flows.
He said the meeting reaffirmed collective determination to ensure that the region adheres to international standards, protects its economic interests and fosters transparency and accountability across all sectors. Dlamini further noted that terrorism financing, whether the funds come from legitimate or illegitimate sources, directly enable terrorists, acts, recruitments, training and the purchase of weapons.
He said when large volumes of illicit money flow through a country’s financial institution, it could cause market instability, distort exchange and interest rates and even trigger banking crisis.
He also emphasised the need to continue being wary of the negative impacts of different financial crimes so as to strengthen efforts and put in place effective, corrective measures and appropriate laws to combat them.
The PS further stated that there was a need to recover government revenue lost through tax evasion, adding that a significant component of money laundering involves sophisticated tax evasion schemes. He said criminals and corrupt officials hide wealth to avoid paying taxes, leading to massive losses in government revenue, preventing economic distortion and inflation.
“Criminal organisations often inject laundered money into specific sectors, such as real estate or luxury goods, inflating prices and creating economic bubbles, and preserving fair competition for legitimate businesses. Therefore, businesses funded by illicit money have unfair, often overwhelming competitive advantage.
“They can afford to undercut the prices of legitimate competitors because their primary goal is cleaning money rather than maximising profit. Financial institutions that are consistently exposed to money laundering scandals suffer severe reputational damage, hefty regulatory fines and legal penalties,” Dlamini said.
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