The man who took more money from South African taxpayers than anyone else in history

SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter collected R2.01 trillion in the last financial year, the most tax revenue in South Africa’s history.

Over the past seven years, under Kieswetter’s leadership, revenue collections have grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.8%.

Of the R25.1 trillion tax revenue collected over the last three decades in South Africa, R11.5 trillion was collected in the last seven years.

The improved revenue collections result is R24.7 billion higher than estimated a year ago, as announced by the Minister at Budget 2025.

“Collecting over R2 trillion is not an accident. It is the outcome of 14,500 employees who diligently worked to achieve this record collection,” Kieswetter said.

To put the latest figures in perspective, SARS collected more tax revenue in two days in the last financial year than over the full year in 1994.

He explained that the increased tax collection occurred despite the challenges of a sluggish economy, geopolitical tensions, and the illicit economy.

SARS bolstered revenue through improved compliance, including debt cash collections and preventing impermissible and fraudulent refund claims.

It also drove voluntary disclosure interventions to regularise tax affairs and countered syndicated tax and customs crimes, valuation fraud, and customs seizures.

Kieswetter said that he was proud of this achievement as he was working for South Africans who could not afford private services.

Tax revenue, he explains, enables the state to provide healthcare, education, policing, and social support to most citizens.

“Every rand helps build a capable state that honours the social contract, delivers for all South Africans, and strengthens the fiscal integrity of South Africa,” he said.

Edward Kieswetter fixed SARS

Kieswetter took early retirement in 2016 and was ready to focus on managing his investments and spending time on passion projects.

However, after Cyril Ramaphosa was elected President and delivered his Thuma Mina (Send Me) speech, Kieswetter was ready for a second rodeo.

He weighed up projects like fixing Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, improving a school, or serving to address service delivery in a major city.

When he saw an advertisement seeking a new SARS Commissioner, one of his friends said it was a great opportunity for him to step up.

“My friend told me that the country needs me. I then thought that this was where I should go,” Kieswetter said.

“I applied for the position, went through the process, and I was invited to the interview process. I was then selected as the new SARS Commissioner.”

At the time, SARS was a mess. During Tom Moyane’s tenure as SARS Commissioner, the institution suffered tremendous damage.

The Nugent Commission concluded that there was a massive failure of integrity and governance during his leadership.

Kieswetter said that SARS was proactively weakened to serve a corrupt political agenda and that fear and intimidation characterised the institution.

Upon his arrival, there were roughly 500 outstanding disciplinary cases, some of which had been unresolved for over five years.

He implemented a strategy focused on restoring institutional integrity, modernising technology, and rebuilding the organisational culture.

He successfully shifted the internal culture back to the belief that SARS funds democracy and provides healthcare and education for the poor.

As his tenure as SARS Commissioner draws to a close, he reflected on his achievements, including record tax collections.

“I am filled with immense pride that, together with the help of the people at SARS, we have given our best to the nation,” Kieswetter said.

“The record achievement we reached is because of all compliant taxpayers. I would like to thank them for their fiscal citizenship and contribution.”

On 1 May 2026, Ngobani Johnstone Makhubu will take over from Kieswetter as the new SARS Commissioner.

Giving more money to the government

Kieswetter did an exceptional job at fixing SARS, improving compliance, and increasing revenue collection for the state.

Most economists commended him for his work, saying he was vital in rebuilding SARS after the hollowing out that occurred during the State Capture era.

However, many people questioned whether more money should be allocated to the state, especially given its widespread incompetence and corruption.

Despite state revenue increasing from R1.3 trillion to R2 trillion during Kieswetter’s tenure, South Africans did not see an improvement in service delivery.

The country became poorer, safety and security are worse than ever, public healthcare is in a dismal state, and there is widespread infrastructure collapse.

Award-winning economist Dawie Roodt said that the Finance Minister has weaponised SARS to squeeze more money out of a stagnant economy.

He warns that because the tax base is not growing, SARS is becoming increasingly aggressive in its compliance tactics to close the tax gap.

Roodt explicitly opposed the National Treasury’s decision to give SARS additional funding to boost collections.

“Unfortunately, the reason why SARS is doing so well is that there is huge pressure on the organisation from the Finance Minister,” he said.

“There is huge pressure on SARS to squeeze as much money as possible out of the economy, because the economy is not growing fast enough.”

Enabling the state to find more money encourages poor spending habits. “The only way to force politicians to spend less money is to give them less money,” he said.

Roodt said that the state does not have a revenue problem. It has a spending problem, including bloated civil servant wages and failing state-owned enterprises.

He added that money is more valuable in the hands of businesses and individuals than in the hands of politicians in the government.

“The state is an inherently inefficient allocator of capital. The state does not create wealth, it only consumes it,” he said.

He argued that every rand taken from the private sector is a rand diverted from productive investment into unproductive consumption.

SARS Revenue Collection