Godongwana says fighting crime and corruption needed for SA’s economic growth

Many agree that crime and corruption are largely to blame for the country’s financial mess and Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana also referred to it when he tabled the medium-term budget policy speech (MTBPS) in parliament on Wednesday.

He pointed out that the Public Procurement Bill seeks to create a single regulatory public procurement framework that strengthens the integrity of the procurement system, enhances transparency and promotes transformation.

It empowers procuring institutions to base their procurement systems on uniform norms and standards as the all-in-one approach did not work. Godongwana said although the bill will not solve all government’s procurement challenges, it will make it easier for honest officials to procure and make it difficult for the corrupt.

He also emphasised that fighting crime is a key ingredient of enhancing economic growth. “We are also working hard to address deficiencies in our fight against organised crimes and illegal financial flows.

“Since February, when South Africa was greylisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a large number of government departments and agencies, including the police, the Hawks, NPA, SIU, SSA, Reserve Bank, FSCA and Sars have been working hard to address these deficiencies.”

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FATF notices SA is making progress

The FATF noted at its plenary meeting last week that government’s work is showing positive results as South Africa addressed 15 of the 20 technical deficiencies in its legal framework and making good progress on 17 of the 22 effectiveness action items, including two that are now deemed to be largely addressed.

“However, there is also a significant amount of work that must still be done, particularly regarding the investigation and prosecution of complex money laundering cases and terror financing, the identification of informal mechanisms for remitting money around the world and the recovery of the proceeds of crime and corruption.”

Godongwana said government expects to address all the deficiencies identified by FATF by early 2025.

Government is also devising ways to make better and more targeted use of the Criminal Asset Recovery Account (CARA) to address crime. Among these efforts and emanating from the presidential project on illicit mining strategy, a recommendation has been made for cabinet to consider using money from the fund to combat illegal mining.

In addition. Godongwana said government is improving the legislative environment in areas such as financial management and financial governance and these reforms will correspond to the recommendations of the Zondo, Mpati and Nugent commissions.