A report by South Africa"s Sunday Times on 8 May 2022 indicates that Islamist groups (e.g. the Islamic State group/IS) are using South African "Small Financial Services and retail outlets in the informal sector" to
fund their operations. The report shows that Spaza Shops were used to transfer 6 billion South African Rand in less than five years (not quite 375 million US Dollars). The US Treasury Department has already placed
sanctions on financial institutions in South Africa that work with IS (US Department of the Treasury Press Release, 1 March 2022). The Economist also reported on 16 April 2022 that "extortionists and kidnappers in South Africa are alleged to be
funding terrorist groups in Congo and Mozambique".
World Watch Research analyst Yonas Dembele comments: "The Sunday Times" report reveals that liberal financial systems in southern African countries have been utilized by armed groups to fund their operations. This is particularly true for South Africa which allows remittance through small Spaza shops. There are networks of IS cells working in conjunction with other groups that participate in illicit financial activities and these have become a "˜cash cow" for jihadists in Africa. In addition to this, South Africa"s permission for
IS fighters to return from Syria has made the work of law enforcement agencies extremely difficult, as reported by the Sunday Times, 8 May 2022."
Yonas Dembele adds: "If significant measures are not taken swiftly to root out any assistance that jihadists are receiving through financial institutions, the presence of radical Islamic groups in the region will only increase. This is particularly dangerous for Christians in southern African countries as the activities of jihadist groups are expanding southwards, as can be seen by what is happening in Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo. For a long while, southern African countries have been seen as being "˜insulated" from IS activities due to their stability and majority Christian citizenship. This assumption is now being challenged by recent developments in the region."
