STOEP CHAT

at Action Ads

2 March 2023

An Admirable Taxman

Everyone loves to hate The Taxman, but today a story fell into my inbox that made me really like him.

Edward Kiesweer, who took over as head of the SA Revenue Service in 2019, is excellent at his job and has rebuilt SARS aer it was broken by State Capture crooks and thugs.

He had his work cut out for him, and proved equal to the task.

This year SARS brought in R1.8 trillion in tax revenue - R94 billion more than had been esmated. Quite a feat.

Kiesweer has recovered billions of unpaid taxes, gone aer the tax fraudsters, sorted out customs, and so much more.

What made me warm to him was a story in the Money Cents newsleer that spoke about his early life.

He was born in a ny flat in Maitland in Cape Town, the second oldest of eight siblings, and grew up poor in the coloured suburb of Kensington.

His father was a municipal worker and his mother a seamstress.

Kiesweer’s parents inslled a strong work ethic into him from an early age. He and his siblings would collect offcuts of fabric for their mother who would turn them into clothes.

“At the tender age of eight the now SARS Commissioner would traipse from door to door selling the clothing to make sure there was food on the table that night and lunch for his siblings to take to school the next day,” the newsleer said.

I wanted to read more about his life and found a story online in an old You magazine.

“We were poor, I tell you,” he said in the arcle. “I know what it’s like to go to bed with nothing but a lile bowl of pap or a slice of bread with sugar sprinkled on it.”

He was a bright kid, and when officials came to his school to run IQ tests, they told his teacher: “That lile boy, Kiesweer, you must nurture him because one day he will go to university”

There was no money for university, and in those days the only bursaries available were for teaching and nursing. Kiesweer wanted to be an engineer.

Instead of being defeated, Kiesweer worked on construcon sites and did other jobs while studying engineering part-me at a technical college. It was tough but he stuck it out for eight years. He finally went on to UCT and graduated at the age of 26.

“Tears rolled down my cheeks as I walked up the Jameson Hall steps. I remembered the words: ‘This boy will one day end up at university’”

Kiesweer has worked in many high-powered jobs and been successful in all of them. He once worked at Eskom and was voted “best boss” by his staff.

Stories like his make me wonder why some people grow up to be ethical, hard-working adults, and make a massive contribuon to society despite tough backgrounds, while others grow up to be greedy and corrupt with a sense of entlement (“it’s my turn to eat!”).

I don’t know the answer, but to me Kiesweer embodies Einstein’s view: “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.”

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