SA's grey list removal offers hope for real reform

There are times when we do show that, as South Africans, we are able to move quickly when the pressure is on us.

- Stephen Grootes

The decision by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to remove us from its grey list obviously comes after a huge amount of work and coordination involving several players. Key to this all was that we are in a situation where our government ministries, agencies, institutions and regulators were able to work together. Crucially, along with the private sector.

But we should not forget why we were able to do this. There was really no political controversy that divided us. Pretty much all our political formations wanted us off the grey list. That, and the relatively small number of people in our elite who were involved in this, made it much easier to do.

I do think, though, that there is a really important lesson in this. We sometimes forget how important it is that the government is able to improve. If we don't believe that it can, we won't put pressure on officials to keep improving things.