Marianne Merten
Citizens appearing in Cape Town’s tax court get more than they bargain for a lecture on civic responsibility and how not submitting tax returns undermines South Africa’s transformation.
“This court is not an alien living on the moon, but part of society,” magistrate Nu’maan Long recently lectured an offender.
A Cape Town businessman and an unemployed electrician were told in no uncertain terms that just as they were trying to earn a living, the state relied on a tax-generated fiscus to provide for 43-million people.
Not filing tax returns meant, for example, that police did not have sufficient vehicles or officers to fight crime, the state could not build houses or provide basic services to the poor and that education and medical facilities also suffered.
“People look on this as being similar to a traffic offence, an expired parking meter. But this is a criminal offence. It is also short-sighted in the extreme if we do not subscribe to the state’s policy to uplift society,” Long lectured businessman Robert Fowler.
Fowler pleaded guilty to not having submitted personal tax returns since 1998. He said he thought his accountants had handled them.
Long told Fowler that since arriving at the court in June last year he daily received 40 new tax or VAT-related cases or 9 600 a year. His current caseload involved around R20-million, including individual cases of R500 000 and R750 000.
This money could be spent on appointing an additional 100 regional court magistrates. Long added: “Then the public would see that law and order is applied properly”.
Fowler was also told that the state topped up the R15 000 to R20 000 annual university or technikon fees that did not cover everything.
Courtroom 21 on the first floor of the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court is not one of the dedicated tax courts established jointly by the South African Revenue Service and the National Director of Public Prosecutions. Those are located in Bellville, George, Johannesburg and Pretoria.
The Cape Town court and one at Wynberg helps to ease backlogs in tax and revenue-related cases.
The caseload last Monday was light: two matters were heard, two postponed and seven warrants of arrest issued. In comparison, up to 30 warrants of arrest are issued on the two busiest court days on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, when tax delinquents queue outside the prosecutor’s office for last-minute help.
Sometimes Long has to be reminded by the court orderlies that it is time for tea or lunch. Friendly advice and easy-to-understand explanations of the legal process are given by him to every person in the dock.
Yet, Long has ruffled feathers among some fellow Muslims for reminding them of the need to fulfil their civic duties like their religious obligations.
The poor are not spared Long’s lectures either. Unemployed electrician and father of three, Ellrich Liebenberg, was told the state helped educate his school-going children.
“Your children go to school. You may pay R100 [for fees]. That is not enough … Look at the buildings; look at the teachers, the cleaning staff,” Long said.
Liebenberg was then told about the lack of investment in South Africa and the high cost of employing street cleaners to clear carelessly thrown-about litter. Then Long delivered a criticism of people who do not look after public facilities illustrated by the way public men’s toilets are blocked by cigarette stubs while the users complain the state did nothing for them.
Then the magistrate asked whether Liebenberg had learnt a lesson.
“Through my negligence I have cost the state a lot of money,” replied Liebenberg. “And who is the state?” Long asked. “Us,” Liebenberg replied.
“Don’t do it again. Take the lesson you have learnt today with you to Ocean View [a Cape Flats township, where Liebenberg lives]. Everyone has to contribute, otherwise there’s no future for your children,” Long said.
Liebenberg was allowed to leave the court with a warning, unlike Fowler who was fined R1 500, or 90 days imprisonment, with another R3 000 or 120 days’ jail suspended on condition he brought his personal tax affairs in order by the end of August.