South Africa has never really been affected by jihadist attacks. Its democracy is solid, its economy stable. However, it is considered a stronghold for the financing of the Islamic State (IS) group and other Islamist organizations.
The most developed country on the continent was first singled out by the United States, which in 2022 sanctioned South African companies and nationals suspected of facilitating transfers of funds for the benefit of ISIS, including Africa has become the main area of ??conquest since the loss of its caliphate between Iraq and Syria in 2019.
“Vigilance was not enough for 20 years because South Africa was not affected at all by the problems of terrorism,” Hans-Jakob Schindler, director of the think tank Counter, told AFP. -Extremism Project (CEP).
“It was the Americans who said: there is something wrong in your country,” adds the former UN expert. “The whole government is now at work.”
In March, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an anti-money laundering organization based in Paris, placed South Africa on a “grey list” of countries lacking rigor in the fight against the financing of illicit activities. .
“It is now internationally accepted that we are a hub,” regrets South African counter-terrorism expert Jasmine Opperman. “South Africa is the hunting ground for remittances (…) in the hands of terrorism”, she believes, also referring to the role of activists favorable to Al-Qaeda, the Palestinian Hamas or the Hezbollah close to Iran.
Martin Ewi, coordinator of a crime observatory for the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Pretoria, confirms that “a number of incidents have sadly given the impression that South Africa was a hub financing of terrorism”.
A phenomenon linked in particular to the democratic nature of the country and to a banking system that is both highly developed and sufficiently open to allow all sorts of hidden activities.
The awareness comes as IS, like Al-Qaeda, has made Africa the central axis of its development. Groups that have pledged allegiance to him are now spreading in Somalia and the Sahel, around Lake Chad and in Mozambique, as well as in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“For five years, Africa has become increasingly important” for the group, notes Hans-Jakob Schindler.
But South Africa’s role in the proliferation of IS dates back more than a decade, said Ryan Cummings, an analyst for Cape Town-based private consultancy Signal Risk.
He cites intelligence reports that Somali Al-Shabaab funneled funds there after the Westgate Mall attacks in Nairobi in 2013.
“Obviously, with the push of IS and its direct presence in Mozambique”, emerges the thesis of an “increase in funds (…) coming from South Africa to Mozambique and groups from the African continent, in particular the subsidiary of the EI in the DRC”, underlines Ryan Cummings.
The cocktail is explosive: an operational financial system, an active and large Muslim community, a democracy with porous borders, endemic corruption and long-standing structured criminal organizations.
In the viewfinder, “these are well-known South African extremist personalities, active for a number of years. They take advantage of open financial structures”, summarizes Tore Hamming, of the International Center for the Study of Radicalization in London.
The funds come from a range of activities, from drug trafficking and precious minerals to hostage taking or extortion through fake profiles of the dating app Tinder.
South African police statistics show in this regard a doubling of kidnappings (4,000) between July and September 2022, compared to the previous three months.
Also involved, according to the US Treasury, are shell companies operating in the sectors of precious stones, gold or construction.
Money circulates via a multitude of transfers of sums too small to attract attention. The equivalent of more than 315 million euros thus left South Africa for Kenya, Somalia, Nigeria and Bangladesh, via some 57,000 unregistered Sim cards, between 2020 and 2021, according to a survey by the South African weekly Sunday Times.
A process that none of the most competent secret services on the planet could have detected. Other funds pass through the hawala system, an informal trust-based payment method that is even more complex to trace than bank transfers.
The extent of the sums intended for the jihadists remains unknown, as does the logic that governs their distribution within the regional subsidiaries of the groups. But the money is not lacking: the jihadist groups “earn more than necessary”, assures Hans-Jakob Schindler.
“You can’t believe for a second that a business or economic activity in an area they control could continue to operate without paying them. That has never happened.”
Internal IS documents, consulted by Tore Hamming, show that half of the funds collected by him in Somalia are kept. A quarter is donated to the organisation’s headquarters, the remaining quarter being shared between Mozambique and the DRC.
One of the South African suspects pointed to by Washington is Farhad Hoomer, 47, based in Durban. In 2022, he faced US Treasury sanctions for “an increasingly central role in facilitating fund transfers from the top to branch offices across Africa”.
He denies working for IS. Contacted by AFP, he spoke of his “surprise”, claiming to have “no idea” of the origin of the sanctions. “I’ve been waiting for the evidence for a year.”
Arrested in 2018, he was accused of preparing to plant incendiary devices near mosques and shops before all charges were dropped.
But South Africa has since reopened some files and shows its willingness to clean up its financial system. Martin Ewi, who works hand in hand with the government, indicates in this regard that several individuals are the subject of investigations into facts now dating back to 2017-2018.
“The government has adopted a very proactive approach,” he wants to believe today.
Several texts were hastily adopted in Parliament, including one on money laundering and the fight against the financing of terrorism, promulgated by President Cyril Ramaphosa just before Christmas.
And on May 19, Security Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni promised to ensure that “South African territory is no longer used to prepare, facilitate or carry out acts of terrorism, or to acquire, move, store and use funds in support of terrorism”.
13/06/2023 10:36:26 – Johannesburg (AFP) © 2023 AFP
