JOHANNESBURG—The South African government is rushing through legislation in a desperate attempt to avoid being “gray-listed” by the Financial Action Task Force, a global intergovernmental watchdog of money laundering and terrorist financing. 
In a report in October 2021, the FATF said the country had “failed to demonstrate that it is effectively identifying, investigating or prosecuting terrorist financiers or addressing terrorism finance through alternate measures.”
The task force said recently South Africa had made little progress in implementing the report’s recommendations, which included the establishment of a “beneficial ownership registry.” 
These registries require public disclosure of the identity of individuals who benefit financially from companies, even if they’re not legal owners….