FIC Media Release 9/5/1/3 has reference.
On 13 February 2025 the High Court of South Africa, Gauteng Local Division, Johannesburg issued its first court order in terms of section 23 of POCDATARA. This court order has far reaching implications for FICA related compliance.
POCDATARA – Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act, 2004 (Act 33 of 2004)
Section 23 allows for the freezing of property in terrorist related matters, upon application to court.
FICA – Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 2001 (Act 38 of 2001)
It should be noted that the practical effect of a court order in terms of Section 23 of POCDATARA has an effect similar to that of Section 26 of FICA, meaning that all transactions involving such an entity must stop immediately and be reported to FIC.
This has serious implication for all Accountable Institutions. At the least the current client base should be scrutinized to determine whether any of the names listed in the judgment appear.
Subsequently, and more importantly, the RMCP must be updated to provide for internal process and procedure to deal with POCDARATA related matters. Several aspects come to mind: sourcing POCDATARA related judgments, maintaining a searchable database of names, the frequency of searches conducted against these names, and finally the internal process for escalation and reporting when a client name is found in a POCDATARA related judgment.
The court order makes it clear that the effect of appearing on in POCDATARA judgment has the same practical effect as if the persons name is found in TFS screening result. The means that, just like with a positive TFS result, all business activities must stop, and a report made to FIC, typically within 24 hours.