Xolisile Khanyile

Xolisile Khanyile is a career prosecutor, having held various positions in South African law enforcement agencies over a 23-year period. She held a senior role at the Asset Forfeiture Unit for over 5 years and was appointed by the President of South Africa as Director of Public Prosecutions, a post she held for 8 years.

From January 2018, she was Director of the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), where she was responsible for the strategic and operational functioning of the FIC, ensuring the fulfilment of its mandate both domestically and internationally. She has also served as the Vice Chair and Chair of the Egmont Group.

Xolisile has conducted numerous training sessions, both nationally and internationally, for prosecutors, law enforcement, civil society, regulators, and the financial sector, amongst many others. She has provided training on financial crime, sexual offences, asset forfeiture, corruption, human trafficking, and environmental matters to a number of African countries as well as globally. Xolisile has addressed several international conferences, including the Lausanne Conference, Interpol 90 General Assembly, Wolfsberg Annual Conference and United for Wildlife Global Summit hosted by Lord Hague.

She led the establishment of the Fusion Centre in South Africa and the first public-private partnership in Africa, the SAMLIT. Xolisile was awarded the Financial Crime Fighter of the year for 2022 by the  Global Coalition to Fight  Financial Crime. On 30 August 2023, she was appointed as the Chair of the African Chapter of the Coalition. In December 2023, the Compliance Institute of Southern Africa awarded her the INKANYEZI award in recognition of her commitment to the fight against financial crime.

Xolisile holds a B Juris, LLB, LLM and MDP from the Business School of the University of Free State. She attended the Duke University African Women Charted Accountants course in 2015 and graduated in 2016.