A 39-year-old South African man has been caught trying to take a black plastic bag filled with thousands of rand in cash into eSwatini at the Oshoek port of entry.
The Border Management Authority (BMA) reported that the man was intercepted by border guards attempting to cross into eSwatini while in possession of a black plastic bag containing cash amounting to R424 800.
BMA spokesperson Mmemme Mogotsi said the money was seized and the suspect charged with contravening the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (Fica), which relates to the reporting of large cash transactions.
In addition, Mogotsi said the suspect violated the Customs and Excise Act, which governs the proper declaration of goods and currency crossing borders.
“The suspect attempted to bribe the BMA border guards, but they acted swiftly with diligence, ensuring that the suspect and the cash were handed over to the Hawks for further investigation,” she said.
The incident comes after the SA Reserve Bank (SARB) announced a change in electronic fund transfer (EFT) transactions from the Common Monetary Countries (CMA), including eSwatini, Lesotho and Namibia.
The Mercury reported last week that new cross-border payment regulations come into effect this month whereby EFTs, debit and credit payments from the CMAs would be treated as cross-border payments. In July, the SARB announced that, as of September 30, low-value EFTs, debit and credit payments made between CMA countries would be treated as cross-border transactions and subject to greater due diligence requirements.
Previously the payments were treated as domestic payments in South Africa.
Bonginkosi Dhlamini, who is the convenor of the United Eswatini Diaspora, said restricted money transfers were already affecting cross-border trade.
Dhlamini said such restrictions also affect the remittance of money, which is money sent from one party to another, by immigrants and professionals working in countries within the CMA.
“The cost of sending money will increase and this will affect the support immigrants give to their families back home,” he said.
Dhlamini said this new regulation may cause an increase in smuggling of cash which may have unintended consequences.
“However, we do respect what the CMA have decided as illicit fund transfers can indeed be a serious problem for and between countries,” he said.
Africa Refugee Social Co-operations general secretary and acting chairperson of the Southern Africa Refugee Organisations Forum in South Africa, Eric Jean Butoki Madel, said the impact of the new regulation was significant.
Madel said having the transactions affected by more deductions due to being cross-border payments would impact those in neighbouring countries.
Chad Thomas, an organised crime investigator from IRS Forensic Investigations, said carrying large sums of money across borders should not be a normal occurrence.
While he did not know the circumstances of the incident that occurred this week, he said, it was known that “criminal syndicates prefer to send cash across borders”.
He said this was because there would be no digital trail. According to Thomas, South Africa has many different criminal networks operated by criminals from neighbouring countries. He said some of these countries’ currencies are linked to the rand, and in some instances the rand is a currency that can be used in that country.
“Zama-zamas (illegal miners) are taking rands into Lesotho, car theft syndicates operating between Mozambique and South Africa are also transporting rands, and rands are exchanged with Zimbabwean syndicates bringing illegal explosives into South Africa for use by zama-zamas, ATM bombing syndicates, and cash-in-transit heist gangs,” said Thomas.
Money transfer regulations are meant to ensure that legitimate transactions can take place easily and with a digital record, he said.
“Unless syndicates have sophisticated laundering methods in place, they will not make use of the electronic transfer option but rather continue to opt for smuggling hard cash out of South Africa in rands and dollars,” he said.
The Mercury