ABSTRACT
Defined as money illegally earned, transferred, or used, illicit financial flows (IFFs) are phenomena preventing the development of the African continent and violating human rights. In a context where Africa has to reach the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063, civil society must strive for the intensification of the fight against IFFs. South Africa is one of the most affected African countries while benefiting from suitable institutions and procedures to fight against IFF.
This chapter explores first the reasons why South Africa is confronted with the biggest scandal which led to IFFs today (“state capture”). The paper further explores how civil society, through the study of the Organization Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), is today involved in the fight against IFFs from South Africa. Thus, the state capture became one of the battle horses of OUTA which also presented to the South African Parliament a report titled No Room to Hide: A president caught in the act, in order to “use the laws of the land and the Constitution to correct the matter through various avenues of litigation, mediation and arbitration available to society” (OUTA).
