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Cape Town - Over R80bn leaves South Africa illegally every year, Minister of State Security David Mahlobo said on Tuesday.
Addressing Parliament while presenting his budget vote, Mahlobo said in the past year global illicit financial flows have been identified as a major security concern that knows no borders.
“South Africa is estimated to be losing over R80bn per annum through illicit financial outflows. Illicit flows from Africa could be as much as $80bn per annum,” he said.
READ: More than R1.16trn leaves Africa illicitly - Mbeki
He said this was double the official development assistance Africa received.
The estimate may be short as there is no accurate data for all transactions and for all African countries, Mahlobo said.
“This phenomenon has robbed our continent of its potential for meeting our developmental goals, while other countries' laws have provided safe havens for these actors,” he said.
He said work is being done to rectify the situation.
“We have registered progress in combating the multi-billion rand trade in illicit tobacco and cigarettes with a seizure of large quantities of illicit cigarettes in the region. We need to double our efforts in dealing with the same situation on our shores with the multi-agency task teams already at work,” said the minister.
He said his department is continuously strengthening its partnership with the South African Revenue Service in an effort to fight illicit economic activities.
Only by combining forces can criminal networks be dismantled, he said.
