Sars boss Edward Kieswetter faces a long walk to restore trust in agency
New head has met labour unions and most staff to share his plans while starting a revenue-recovery project and implementing the recommendations of the inquiry into its management
14 October 2019 - 10:39
byPrinesha Naidoo and Ana Monteiro
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Sars boss Edward Kieswetter. Picture: ROBBIE TSHABALALA
The new head of the SA Revenue Service (Sars) says rebuilding the organisation will be a long haul after the management was “dismantled” and it lost public trust.
“In the five months I’ve been there we’ve done a significant amount of work, but it’s not a one-trick pony — it’s a multidimensional, multifaceted piece of work,” Sars commissioner Edward Kieswetter said.
Kieswetter, who took over as head on May 1, inherited an institution that suffered “huge failure of governance and integrity” after the appointment of former head Tom Moyane in 2014, a commission that probed problems at the body found. Sars had a climate “characterised by fear and intimidation, with compliant managers that felt they were under a command-and-control structure”, and unwittingly or unconsciously carried out work that didn’t serve the organisation, the new head said.
Turning around the tax agency is crucial to lift SA out of an economic slump. The state institution was one of the more effective during the 2000s, when efficient collection and strong growth led to revenue surpluses and space for the government to offer tax cuts.
Rebuilding trust
The Treasury started reversing those concessions in 2015 as the economic expansion waned and skilled professionals left the organisation, hindering its ability to improve collections. Revenue fell R57.4bn short of the budget estimate in the year to end-March, the agency said in April. It will be hard to reach the R1.58-trillion revenue estimate for the current financial year, Kieswetter said.
“How do I rebuild the trust and improve the morale? My answer is: one person at a time — you have to connect with each of the 12,500 people and demonstrate to that individual that you truly care,” Kieswetter said. “Trust isn’t built by making big promises, it’s by doing many small things.”
Kieswetter said he has met labour unions and about 90% of the institution’s staff to share his plans.
Recovered money
He also started a revenue-recovery project and is implementing the recommendations of the inquiry into Sars’s management.
It has recovered money paid to Bain & Co, the Boston-based consultancy company that was hired to assist in restructuring Sars in 2015, and is in discussions with Gartner after the US technology-research firm secured a contract without proper procurement processes being followed, Kieswetter said.
The institution has also referred some matters to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation for further inquiries.
“We have reached a point of inflection — we are in a deep hole, but we are not digging ourselves into the hole, we are climbing,” he said. “There can be no one-off wonders.”
With John McCorry, Gordon Bell and Amogelang Mbatha
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Sars boss Edward Kieswetter faces a long walk to restore trust in agency
New head has met labour unions and most staff to share his plans while starting a revenue-recovery project and implementing the recommendations of the inquiry into its management
The new head of the SA Revenue Service (Sars) says rebuilding the organisation will be a long haul after the management was “dismantled” and it lost public trust.
“In the five months I’ve been there we’ve done a significant amount of work, but it’s not a one-trick pony — it’s a multidimensional, multifaceted piece of work,” Sars commissioner Edward Kieswetter said.
Kieswetter, who took over as head on May 1, inherited an institution that suffered “huge failure of governance and integrity” after the appointment of former head Tom Moyane in 2014, a commission that probed problems at the body found. Sars had a climate “characterised by fear and intimidation, with compliant managers that felt they were under a command-and-control structure”, and unwittingly or unconsciously carried out work that didn’t serve the organisation, the new head said.
Turning around the tax agency is crucial to lift SA out of an economic slump. The state institution was one of the more effective during the 2000s, when efficient collection and strong growth led to revenue surpluses and space for the government to offer tax cuts.
Rebuilding trust
The Treasury started reversing those concessions in 2015 as the economic expansion waned and skilled professionals left the organisation, hindering its ability to improve collections. Revenue fell R57.4bn short of the budget estimate in the year to end-March, the agency said in April. It will be hard to reach the R1.58-trillion revenue estimate for the current financial year, Kieswetter said.
“How do I rebuild the trust and improve the morale? My answer is: one person at a time — you have to connect with each of the 12,500 people and demonstrate to that individual that you truly care,” Kieswetter said. “Trust isn’t built by making big promises, it’s by doing many small things.”
Kieswetter said he has met labour unions and about 90% of the institution’s staff to share his plans.
Recovered money
He also started a revenue-recovery project and is implementing the recommendations of the inquiry into Sars’s management.
It has recovered money paid to Bain & Co, the Boston-based consultancy company that was hired to assist in restructuring Sars in 2015, and is in discussions with Gartner after the US technology-research firm secured a contract without proper procurement processes being followed, Kieswetter said.
The institution has also referred some matters to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation for further inquiries.
“We have reached a point of inflection — we are in a deep hole, but we are not digging ourselves into the hole, we are climbing,” he said. “There can be no one-off wonders.”
With John McCorry, Gordon Bell and Amogelang Mbatha
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