Former president Jacob Zuma at his Nkandla homestead in 2007. (Gallo)
The Democratic Alliance wants the South African Revenue Service (Sars) to speed up its investigation into President Jacob Zuma’s fringe benefit tax relating to the upgrades at his home in Nkandla.
DA MP Alf Lees said on Wednesday that the party welcomes the admission by advocate Neo Tsholanku of Sars, at the meeting of the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) on Tuesday, that revenue service is investigating Zuma’s liability to pay tax on the fringe benefits related to his Nkandla private residence.
According to the DA’s calculations, Zuma should pay fringe benefit tax amounting to almost R64-million for the Nkandla upgrades.
“The DA will now write to Sars commissioner Tom Moyane to ask for a firm commitment to a timeline for the completion of this investigation,” said Lees.
Zuma’s reply to a parliamentary question on this matter was released on Monday.
“The issue of tax is a confidential matter between the South African Revenue Service and the taxpayer,” reads Zuma’s written reply to DA leader Mmusi Maimane.
Maimane asked Zuma whether he had paid fringe benefit tax on the non-security related upgrades at his private home in Nkandla and if not, why not. If he did pay, Maimane wanted to know when and how much he had paid.
Sars declarations
After a damning ruling by the Constitutional Court in 2016, Zuma had to pay R7.8-million for the swimming pool (the so-called fire pool), chicken run, kraal, amphitheatre and visitors’ centre.
Lees said Tsholanku “glibly stated” in the Scopa meeting that “our auditors are working as fast as they can” to complete the investigation.
“However, the reality is that it has been three years since the DA first called on Sars, in March 2014, to assess the extent of the president’s Nkandla fringe benefits,” said Lees.
“Tsholanku’s excuse won’t do. Sars cannot think that South Africans must simply accept a massive delay in enforcing Jacob Zuma’s tax liability. For three years Zuma has got away with evading paying tax on his palace of corruption, but that time is up.
“It is complete nonsense for Sars to cry ‘complex processes’ and say ‘our auditors are working as fast as they can’ after being aware of the non-security upgrades for a full three years since the matter was exposed by the DA.”
Lees said if the investigation finds that Zuma did not voluntarily declare the Nkandla fringe benefits to Sars, he should be criminally prosecuted. – News24