South Africa's president appoints new head of tax agency

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday appointed Ngobani Johnstone Makhubu as the new commissioner of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) for a period of five years, effective May 1.

Makhubu, currently SARS's deputy commissioner for taxpayer engagement and operations, will take over from Edward Kieswetter, whose tenure ends on April 30.

According to a statement from the presidency, Makhubu brings over 17 years of senior leadership experience in tax administration, as well as commercial, finance and operations management.

South Africa collected a net 2.01 trillion rand ($118.06 billion) of tax in the fiscal year that ended on March 31, 8.4% higher than the previous year, preliminary figures showed on Wednesday.

For the 2026/27 fiscal year beginning on April 1, SARS forecast collections of about 2.13 trillion rand, a 5.8% increase.