President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday assured that outstanding recommendations made by the Nugent Commission of Inquiry will continue to receive the attention of his administration and the relevant institutions.

Ramaphosa was speaking in Pretoria during the the twenty-fifth anniversary of the South Africa Revenue Service (Sars), where he said many of the Commission’s recommendations have been implemented by the Ministry of Finance, National Treasury and Sars.

In 2018 Ramaphosa instituted the Commission, headed by retired Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Robert Nugent, to investigate the state of the revenue collector, which had deteriorated from being a world class institution to one that no longer held any public trust.

The most damning finding of the Commission of Inquiry was that there was massive failure of governance and integrity at Sars, facilitated by the deliberate dismantling of tried and tested organisational arrangements.

The President said since its inception, Sars had provided South Africa’s democratic government with the financial resources to fulfil the promise of freedom, and to create a better life for all.  

Since its formation in 1997, Sars has been able to collect over R18-trillion for government to provide fund various programmes that have supported the lives of South Africans.

Ramaphosa said when one compared the amount of R1.6-trillion collected by end of March 2022 to the R147-billion Sars collected in 1996/1997, one became aware of the enormously impressive work that had been done by the organisation.

He said South Africa was grateful for the assistance that Sars received in its formative years from institutions such as the Swedish tax authority and the Australian and Canadian revenue authorities.

He explained that this assistance helped accelerate the pace of learning for Sars during that early period.

“Unfortunately, none of those lessons could have prepared Sars to protect itself against well-orchestrated capture by self-serving individuals who were not only unbothered by the higher purpose I spoke about but were in fact hostile to it,” the President said.

Ramaphosa thanked Nugent, his team and the evidence leaders, for providing the recommendations that had assisted Sars Commissioner Edward Kieswetter and his team in restoring the integrity of the institution, in improving efficiency and in regaining public trust among taxpayers, traders and other stakeholders.

Ramaphosa said for Sars to deliver optimally on its work, it was critical that all taxpayers and traders complied with their legal obligations.

“Over the past few years, Sars has been accessing data locally and across the world to help the organisation to detect and act against non-compliant taxpayers and criminal syndicates. To those compliant taxpayers who meet their legal obligations, I salute you. It is your compliance that enables Sars to fulfil its mandate of collecting all the revenue that is due,” he explained.

EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE

Ramaphosa noted that Sars’ path of transformation had been a long journey, following various iterations, remodelling and operational shifts, and asserted that it would continue to be a growing and maturing institution.

He highlighted that Sars was an “excellent example” of a government entity that was efficient and effective.

“The encouraging progress of rebuilding Sars is evidence that it is possible to arrest and rebuild ourselves to continue in this vein, and to inspire other government departments and entities to follow suit. It is crucial that Sars continues to pursue its mandate without fear, favour or prejudice,” Ramaphosa said.

Ramaphosa went on to thank the staff at Sars, particularly for their work during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Government supported businesses in distress with tax relief measures that were well administered by Sars,” he said.

He pointed out that none of the financial interventions would have been possible were it not for the work of “the committed employees at Sars”.