SARS must take action against Wiese - OUTA

20 July 2018

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) calls on the South African Revenue Service (SARS) to aggressively pursue individuals and businesses who are evading taxes, particularly those who perpetuate tax fraud on a grand scale.

OUTA firmly believes that tax evasion as well as tax non-compliance by the private sector and wealthy individuals are threatening the economy. The very rich, including billionaire Christo Wiese, Markus Jooste (of Steinhoff fame) and the directors of VBS bank need to pay back the money owing to South Africans.

“Individual and corporate enrichment through elaborate and complex tax evasion is a crime against the people. If it is true that Christo Wiese has expanded his personal empire on the back of hard-working South Africans by evading his tax obligations to society, he should face the full might of the law and OUTA strongly urges SARS and the Hawks to take action against him and others individuals who have defrauded the state,” says OUTA CEO, Wayne Duvenage. 

OUTA and many of its supporters have expressed their disgust over the alleged actions against Wiese, ENSafrica and Tullow Oil who, according to an AmaBhungane exposè, collectively owe SARS R3.9 billion. Twitter and Facebook users have requested OUTA to step in to act against Wiese and ensure justice is served.

“OUTA is here to strengthen existing public systems and encourage Government to do its job. Privatising cases against big tax evaders may weaken the state’s ability to do this job itself and we end up with dysfunctional public systems that do not serve everyday citizens. Our responsibility at OUTA is to ensure our taxes are used effectively by Government to go after tax evaders,” Duvenage added. “OUTA also calls for greater transparency on major tax fraud, particularly once these cases have been adjudicated. Those who evade taxes on such a large scale should be publicly named and shamed, so that government departments and businesses can avoid working with them in future.”

Issued by Lois Moodley, OUTA Head of Communications, 20 July 2018