The efficacy of SA’s law enforcement authorities came under the spotlight on Monday with the announcement by the US treasury that it had designated members of an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) cell in the country.
The US announced that it has added four South Africans to its terrorist sanctions list for having provided “technical, financial or material support” to an Isis cell it says is operating in SA.
This comes at a bad time in terms of SA’s bid to avoid greylisting by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the international body that sets standards for regimes to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.
One of the deficiencies in SA’s regime identified by the FATF is the ineffectiveness of its law enforcement authorities, and the government has been at pains to prove otherwise.
The FATF plenary is due to make a decision on whether to greylist SA at its meeting in February.
The US treasury department said in a media statement on Monday that brothers Nufael Akbar and Yunus Mohamad Akbar are “senior members” of an Islamic State cell based in Durban and led by Farhad Hoomer, who was placed on the sanctions list in March along with three alleged Islamic State financiers.
Two other Hoomer associates — Mohamad Akbar and Umar Akbar, who were arrested by SA police along with Hoomer in 2018 following an attack on a Shia mosque in Verulam — were also placed on the sanctions list. Along with Hoomer, they were linked to a plan to detonate incendiary devices at markets around Durban, but the charges of terrorism and extortion of the stores where the devices were planted were later dropped.
The US treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also designated eight companies owned, controlled or directed by these men: MA Gold Traders (Pty) Ltd, Bailey Holdings (Pty) Ltd, Flexoseal Waterproofing Solutions (Pty) Ltd, HJ Bannister Construction CC, Sultans Construction CC, Ashiq Jewellers CC, Ineos Trading (Pty) Ltd and Shaahista Shoes CC.
The sanctions designations mean that all property and all interests in property of these men and entities that are in the US or in control of US persons must be blocked or reported to OFAC, the US treasury said in its statement. Any transactions with the US involving these individuals, their properties or their interests are prohibited.
Terror alert
The recent designation follows a US security alert about a possible terrorist attack in the Sandton area on the weekend of October 29 and 30. The attack never materialised.
The warning was repeated by the British, Canadian and Australian high commissions.
US treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence Brian Nelson, said in a statement on Monday his government targeted the individuals in SA as they “played pivotal roles in enabling terrorism and other criminal activities in the region”. He said: “The US, as part of the Global Coalition to Defeat Isis, will continue to partner with SA to deny Isis the ability to exploit the country’s economy to raise and move funds to support the growth of Isis affiliates and networks.”
No mention was made of any links these men might have to the insurgency in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, to which the US has previously linked at least one of Hoomer’s associates. The US has alleged that Hoomer had recruited and trained Islamic State cell members and that he was in contact with members in the Democratic Republic of Congo and throughout SA.
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