SA Government partners with NPOs to exit international grey list by 2025

Deputy Minister of Social Development, Ganief Hendricks called on non-profit organisations (NPOs) and the civil society sector to work with government in its efforts to exit the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list by the end of 2025.

Hendricks said that government is focussing on Recommendation 8 of the Financial Action Task Force, which aims to protect NPOs from potential terrorist financing and money laundering abuse through effective implementation of risk-based measures.

Hendricks also cautioned government against using legislation to stifle the operations of legitimate NPOs that play a vital role in communities across SA. 

“Our National Development Plan (NDP, Vision 2030) calls for active citizenry, especially from the grassroots level. We must therefore guard overburdening and frustrating grassroots initiatives through the use of legislation,” he explained. 

“The objective of the NPO Act is to create an enabling legislative environment for the NPO sector to thrive and contribute to our national development agenda,” Hendricks said. 

Progress 

In February, National Treasury said it was satisfied with the progress being made to remove the Grey List. 

This was after the FATF noted that it upgraded four of the six outstanding action items at the latest plenary meetings in France.

Treasury fully believes that SA will exit the Grey List by October after having addressed nearly all the deficiencies that were identified in the country’s financial security systems.

The country was grey listed by the FATF in February 2023 for not complying with international standards that relate to money laundering and addressing illicit financial flows.

Treasury said that government has now addressed or largely addressed 20 out of the 22 action items outlined in its plan and the two remaining items are expected to be addressed in the reporting period from March 2025 to June 2025.

“This would enable South Africa to be considered for delisting from the FATF Grey List in October 2025,” according to a statement by Treasury.

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