Edward Kieswetter calls it a day at SARS

Today, 30 April, marks Edward Kieswetter’s last day as South Africa’s tax boss, as he is set to hand over the reins to his deputy, Johnstone Makhubu.

Kieswetter has served as the commissioner of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) for the past 7 years, returning to the role in 2019.

When Kieswetter’s career first started, it was difficult to believe that he would end up at the head of SARS.

Kieswetter started out his professional career as an apprentice and electronics engineering technician for the Cape Town Municipality from 1977 to 1981.

Following this, he worked as an electronics and instrumentation engineer at Caltex Refinery until 1983.

In that same year, he graduated from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology with an electrical engineering degree.

A few years later, he would obtain an education degree from the University of Cape Town, followed by an honours degree in education from the University of Western Cape in 1988.

Over this period, and until 1991, he worked at Athlone Technikon as a lecturer and divisional head for the Faculty of Electrical Engineering.

What many may not know about the SARS boss is that he worked at Eskom for many years after, joining in 1992 and staying with the utility until 2000.

At Eskom, Kieswetter reported directly to the Eskom board, working as a senior general manager of generation and as a power station manager, where he oversaw 15,000 employees.

During his tenure at Eskom, Kieswetter led a Business Process Re-engineering Project that earned several company, national and international recognitions.

However, in March 2000, Kieswetter was headhunted and offered an excellent opportunity to transition into the financial services sector.

Thus, he left Eskom and joined the FirstRand banking group, where he served as a senior executive and director.

Therefore, he oversaw 5,000 members of staff and was part of the leadership team tasked with turning around FirstRand’s retail bank and creating centralised banking operations centres.

Kieswetter worked at FirstRand for four years, gaining experience that would serve him well in his next role – Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of SARS.

First round at SARS 

Kieswetter joined SARS in 2004, after having been invited to serve the government as the revenue service’s Deputy Commissioner and COO.

Late minister Pravin Gordhan was SARS Commissioner at the time, with Kieswetter reporting directly to him.

In his time as deputy commissioner, Kieswetter successfully established the revenue service’s first Large Business Centre.

This was done in line with global best practice to focus on a comprehensive Compliance Programme and on revenue collection for the largest public and private corporations in South Africa.

He also established SARS’ first High Net Worth Individual Unit to provide a one-stop service to improve the service for wealthy individuals, whilst improving compliance levels and revenue collection.

Kieswetter has also been partially credited with providing the operational leadership that transformed SARS into a benchmark and admired revenue authority worldwide.

Under Gordhan and Kieswetter, SARS was considered one of South Africa’s most effective and efficient government functions.

In his time at SARS, Kieswetter also obtained two more degrees – an MBA from Henley in the UK and a Master’s in Commerce from North West University.

However, Kieswetter had only agreed to a five-year term when he joined SARS and, therefore, left the revenue service in 2009 to become the CEO of Alexander Forbes.

During his time at the helm, Kieswetter led the financial services giant to a significant financial turnaround, rebuilt its reputation and brand, and oversaw its relisting on the JSE.

A change in personal circumstances led Kieswetter to leave Alexander Forbes in 2016 and retire. However, he would not stay retired for long.

Building back SARS

In the years after Kieswetter left SARS, the revenue service had been slowly hollowed out during the State Capture era.

It became a shell of what it was under Gordhan and Kieswetter, hollowed out by corruption and rendered highly inefficient.

Kieswetter previously said that the damage caused by State Capture cannot be underestimated, with SARS having become an unfortunate casualty.

When the State Capture era ended, and a new administration was ushered in, Kieswetter became the man tasked with turning SARS around and restoring it to its former glory.

He rejoined SARS as commissioner in May 2019, relinquishing all the external roles he had taken on during his time away from the revenue service.

Then, the hard work of rebuilding SARS started. In his first year back at SARS alone, Kieswetter oversaw:

• The creation of SARS Vision 2024, which aimed to build a smart, modern SARS with unquestionable integrity
• Various interceptions of illicit goods
• Improved online filing and filing at SARS branches
• Placed key executives under suspension for allegations of misconduct
• Took delinquent taxpayers to court
• Noted the Nugent report recommendations that resulted from the Nugent Commission, which investigated governance failures at SARS under its former commissioner, Tom Moyane
• Launched its re-established Large Business Centre

This hard work continued over the next six years, with Kieswetter largely credited with restoring the revenue service to its former glory.

Now, the commissioner is set to go out with a bang, with Kieswetter recently celebrating that the 2025/26 financial year saw SARS collect a record R2 trillion in tax revenue.

In announcing the appointment of Kieswetter’s successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed his appreciation and high regard for the commissioner’s leadership.

He said Kieswetter “has positioned SARS as a critical enabler of fiscal stability, social delivery, trade facilitation, and the enablement of domestic and foreign investment”.

Makhubu is set to take over the reins at SARS at the start of May, with big shoes to fill.

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Edward Kieswetter’s last days at SARS

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