Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has designated Professor Thabo Legwaila (pictured above) as the acting Tax Ombud for three months after Judge Bernard Ngoepe’s term of office officially ended on 30 September.
Judge Ngoepe served as Tax Ombud for three terms, from 2013 to 2022.
Legwaila will continue in his role as the chief executive of the Office of the Tax Ombud. His term as acting ombud is effective from 6 October 2022 to 5 January 2023.
The Minister of Finance has started the recruitment process for appointing a permanent Tax Ombud, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on Friday.
It said Godongwana was “truly grateful for the sterling work” Judge Ngoepe has done in establishing the Office of the Tax Ombud and steering it for nine years.
Since the inception of the office, Judge Ngoepe spearheaded the goal of the office to help improve the tax administration system and provide a free and fair avenue for resolving taxpayers’ complaints against the South African Revenue Service, the ministry said.
Among the achievements of his tenure, Judge Ngoepe established an automated complaints management system, enabled systemic investigations and comprehensive reporting when necessary, and published the first Compilation of Taxpayers’ Rights, Entitlements and Obligations to promote taxpayer rights awareness, the ministry said.
Legwaila joined the Office of the Tax Ombud as chief executive in April 2020. He was previously the head of tax: Africa at Citi Bank from January 2011 to April 2020. In 2014, he joined the University of Johannesburg on a part-time basis as professor of tax law. He was the director of business tax in the Tax and Financial Sector Policy Division of National Treasury from July 2006 to December 2010.
Legwaila holds a Bluris from the University of Venda, a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws from the University of Witwatersrand, a Postgraduate Diploma in Tax Law and a Master of Laws from the University of Cape Town, and a Doctor of Laws from the University of Pretoria.
