The Pretoria High Court has ordered the South African government to equip public facilities, such as hospitals, clinics, police stations, and schools, with generators and diesel to ensure an uninterrupted power supply within 60 days. The ruling raises concerns about the economic implications of this directive, as the cost of generators and diesel would be an expensive undertaking for taxpayers, funded by general taxes.
The National Treasury and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) have recently gazetted a notice that grants a tax exemption for bulking payments made to former members of closed retirement funds. This notice aims to provide consistency in tax treatment, clarity, and certainty for South African taxpayers.