R15.5 billion funding for South Africa's law enforcement and defence force

South Africa is beefing up its security and prosecutorial agencies in an effort to combat chronic crime and corruption, which has sparked public fury and damaged the country’s reputation among investors.

The national budget, which was published in Cape Town on Wednesday, gives an additional R7.8 billion to the police force over the next three years, allowing it to recruit and train 5,000 more officers every year.

The National Prosecuting Authority will get an additional R1.3 billion to hire 120 additional workers and outside specialists for complicated cases, particularly financial crimes.

The Financial Intelligence Centre, the Special Investigative Unit, and the tax collecting agency will also get additional funding.

South Africa is one of the world’s crime capitals, with more than 80 murders a day on average, and has long been plagued by the theft of government monies.

A judicial committee of inquiry established to investigate fraud during former President Jacob Zuma’s nine-year administration discovered that government agencies and state-owned enterprises were systematically robbed with his knowledge.

While President Cyril Ramaphosa, who took over for Zuma in early 2018, has made combating crime a key priority, progress has been hampered by a lack of investigative and prosecutorial competence.

The Financial Action Task Force, a global watchdog, will vote this week whether to put South Africa to its so-called grey list of nations subject to enhanced inspection and supervision due to weaknesses in combating money laundering and illegal financial flows.

The National Treasury stated that significant progress has been achieved in resolving the shortcomings noted by the FATF in its 2021 review, including the passage of two crucial pieces of legislation, and that the watchdog has been formally requested to reassess South Africa’s compliance in June.

It stated that more needs to be done to strengthen money-laundering controls for the legal profession, estate agents, and the cryptocurrency business, as well as to sustainably boost investigations, prosecutions, and asset forfeitures connected to money laundering and terror funding.

Inclusion on the grey list would place South Africa on level with Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan, making it more difficult for its state institutions to borrow money and perhaps raising banking and asset-management costs.

The budget also includes R3.1 billion for the defence force to acquire, repair, and maintain equipment, as well as to help support its activities in neighbouring Mozambique, where it is assisting the government in fighting an Islamic insurgency.

A total of R3.3 billion will be redirected from five government ministries’ budgets to a new border control agency that will be operational in April.

It will be in charge of controlling all ports of entry and deterring illegal migration, and as goods, the Treasury said.