The Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac) has written to President Jacob Zuma, asking that he sign the Financial Intelligence Centre Amendment (Fica) Bill immediately, failing which the organisation will take him to the Constitutional Court to force his hand.

Corruption Watch has threatened to follow suit as the Progressive Professionals Forum (PPF) ups the ante in its opposition to the bill. PPF president Mzwanele Manyi said on Thursday that the PPF would decide whether to contest the bill in the Constitutional Court once it had studied the final version signed by the president.

Zuma has had almost two months to sign the bill which was readopted by Parliament at the end of February and which is required for SA to meet its international commitments to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). These include instituting measures to strengthen the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism as provided for in the bill.

If SA does not get the Fica bill on its statute books by June it could be declared delinquent by task force, creating difficulties for SA’s banks in their relationships with foreign banks. Such relationships are vital to effect payment for imports and exports. The first deadline in February was missed.

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