Africa-Press – South-Africa. The South African Revenue Service (SARS) asked taxpayers not to come into its offices amid a national strike.
Public Servants’ Association (PSA) and the National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) started to strike on Wednesday morning, in a dispute over pay hikes.
‘Full-blown’ national strike begins at SARS
SARS said in a statement that the first day of the strike proceeded “orderly, without incident”.
Due to its wide range of online services, disruption to the operations was minimal.
“[But] taxpayers are encouraged to avoid coming to a SARS office.”
SARS will continue to “monitor” developments at its offices over the coming days.
Customs operations at ports of entry, especially borders, are operational and have been without major interruptions. SARS Customs said that it would rely on the support of the police and other government agencies at border posts to ensure that there was continued operations.
The unions are demanding a CPI plus 7% increase, but SARS says that this is unaffordable. SARS maintained that the R3 billion boost to the tax authority from Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s budget did not account for wage increases.
“We realise that over the past few years’ remuneration and benefits has not kept up with inflation,” said SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter.
“Employees do not willingly withhold their labour because that in itself has a financial impact on them under already tough times. One has to understand, though, that when workers feel frustrated they feel that by going on strike is the last resort for them to be heard.”
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