It’s back to square one in the search for a permanent senior manager at SA Revenue Service in Cape Town. The region has now been without a full-time Sars regional manager for close on two years. “There is an acting manager in place, who is not resident in Cape Town, but it’s concerning that they are seemingly struggling to fill this position,” said a source who told FTW that attempts to appoint someone had failed and that the entire process had begun from scratch. Sars spokesman Sandile Memela confirmed this, saying a candidate had been identified. “The candidate has declined our offer, notwithstanding all attempts on our part to convince the individual otherwise,” he said. “In view of this, the position was re-advertised last week and the recruitment process is being expedited given its urgency. In the meantime, the same acting executive, Henson Msongweni, will continue to oversee customs operations in the Western Cape.” Complaints about customs operations in Cape Town however continue. “They need more people on client interface – especially as industry is now renewing licences and registration,” said another source. “There are long queues and often when one finally gets to the front they are simply not able to assist either because they don’t have the relevant documents in stock or because they are not sure what processes have to be followed. It is quite common to be told to come back later or even the next day.” Another growing concern is the skills shortage. “This is a major challenge,” said a clearing agent. “We are increasingly being asked for documentation that is not required according to their own policies and it is simply because of the lack of skill on the ground. There is misunderstanding and misinterpretation that has significant impact on business.” Industry earlier in the year met with customs officials from Pretoria to address some of these challenges – including the increased number of container stops and the escalating costs involved with this. According to Mike Walwyn, spokesman of the Cape’s Port Liaison Forum (PLF), finding a regional Sars manager must be a priority. “It’s a major issue as the organisation remains rudderless locally and industry really has very few options to address the challenges that exist,” he said. Memela said various measures had been put in place to ensure that the delays experienced by industry not only in Cape Town but the rest of the country were addressed as a matter of urgency. “We have also assembled a team of people to attend to these and have enhanced various processes and procedures to ensure that the bottlenecks are addressed on a permanent basis. In fact, our national processing pool backlog has gone down from 3953 on 1 October to 1541 on 27 November, a reduction of 63%,” he said. “Many of these are cases in which certain trader action is still required. This was presented to various stakeholders at the national customs and excise stakeholder forum held at the end of November.” Walwyn agreed that one of industry’s biggest concerns – increased container stops for customs inspections in Cape Town – had been addressed and fewer stops were being seen. “The time to release containers after an inspection is still very long though and ranges from two to three days despite an agreement with customs of 24 hours.” Memela said engagement with industry to address how to best improve processes to facilitate trade was ongoing. He also encouraged industry in Cape Town to contact Msongweni regarding any cases where staff were not interpreting legislation correctly or with other concerns. Walwyn said meetings would be held with senior Sars customs officials in Pretoria to discuss the challenges in Cape Town and resolve the problems.
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One of the industry's biggest concerns, increased container stops, has been addressed. – Mike Walwyn
