{"id":855884,"date":"2026-04-02T14:09:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T12:09:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=855884"},"modified":"2026-04-02T14:24:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T12:24:58","slug":"goodbye-edward-kieswetter-sars-appoints-new-commissioner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/855884\/goodbye-edward-kieswetter-sars-appoints-new-commissioner\/","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye Edward Kieswetter – Ramaphosa appoints new SARS commissioner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Dr Ngobani Johnstone Makhubu as Commissioner of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) for a period of five years with effect from 1 May 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently serving as SARS Deputy Commissioner, Bloomberg previously reported that Makhubu had been favoured for the role<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makhubu has been the deputy commissioner of taxpayer engagement at SARS since 2023, when he was appointed along with two other deputies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaphosa made the appointment in terms of section 6 of the South African Revenue Service Act of 1997, following a unanimous recommendation by a selection panel convened by the Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makhubu, who has held the position of Deputy Commissioner: Taxpayer Engagement & Operations since 2023, succeeds Commissioner Edward Kieswetter, whose two-year contract ends on 30 April 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The incoming commissioner is a seasoned public and private sector executive with more than 17 years of senior leadership experience spanning tax administration, commercial, finance and operations management,” the president said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has worked in complex, regulated and large-scale organisations across multiple industries, including fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), mining, power generation and public revenue services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makhubu has also worked on formulating the SARS strategic direction since 2020 and has actively implemented the Vision 2024 strategy alongside outgoing commissioner Edward Kieswetter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The implementation of Vision 2024 achieved revenue collections with a compounded annual growth rate of 7.6% while voluntary compliance increased by 3.4 percentage points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaphosa also expressed his appreciation and high regard for Kieswetter\u2019s incisive and innovative leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that Kieswetter’s tenure, which spanned 7 years, positioned SARS as a critical enabler of fiscal stability, social delivery, and trade facilitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kieswetter has been widely lauded as a highly successful SARS Commissioner and credited with rebuilding the service from the ashes of the previous administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SARS Commissioners<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Commissioner<\/th>Tenure<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Trevor van Heerden<\/td>1997-1999<\/td><\/tr>
Pravin Gordhan<\/td>1999-2009<\/td><\/tr>
Oupa Magashula<\/td>2009-2013<\/td><\/tr>
Ivan Pillay<\/td>2013-2014<\/td><\/tr>
Tom Moyane<\/td>2014-2018<\/td><\/tr>
Mark Kingon (Acting)<\/td>2018-2019<\/td><\/tr>
Edward Kieswetter<\/td>2019-2026<\/td><\/tr>
Johnstone Makhubu<\/strong><\/td>2026-2031<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Kieswetter took up the top spot at SARS, he had the unenviable task of re-equipping the tax service to be the efficient and effective powerhouse it once was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To do this, he emphasised technology as the driving force behind SARS\u2019s tax collection efforts, while adopting the philosophy of making tax \u201cuser-friendly\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A clear goal throughout his tenure was to make paying taxes really easy and to make dodging taxes very expensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the SARS commissioner has been incredibly successful in rebuilding SARS, it hasn\u2019t been without its challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kieswetter oversaw operations during one of the most economically turbulent times in history, maintaining service levels during the COVID-19 pandemic while collecting revenue from a narrowing tax base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taxpayers, particularly wealthy ones, have been emigrating and ending tax residency in their thousands, while wider economic strain on individuals has forced SARS to draw water from a shallow pool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, the service has managed to rake in record revenue over the years, hitting a record R2 trillion in 2025\/26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed the new commissioner of the South African Revenue Service, replacing Edward Kieswetter from 1 May 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":855895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[12501,3246],"class_list":["post-855884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-ramaphosa","tag-sars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855884"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":855890,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855884\/revisions\/855890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}