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- The Gauteng North High Court in Pretoria has ruled that SA Revenue Service must supply amaBhungane and the Financial Mail with Jacob Zuma's tax records within 10 days.
- The two publications approached the court after SARS in 2019 denied the Financial Mail access to the former president's tax file.
- AmaBhungane's co-managing partner, Sam Sole, says the social value of tax secrecy is "exaggerated" and "mainly serves the powerful and not the community".
Investigative journalism outfit amaBhungane and business magazine the Financial Mail have won their court application to access the tax records of former president Jacob Zuma.
The Gauteng North High Court in Pretoria ruled on Tuesday that the SA Revenue Service (SARS) must supply the two publications with Zuma's tax records for the years between 2010 and 2018 within 10 days.
SARS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Judge Norman Davis also ruled that sections of the Tax Administration Act and the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA), which hindered the two groups in accessing the tax records, were unconstitutional. The Constitutional Court will, however, have to confirm his findings.
The two publications brought the case, in part, based on reporting included in The President's Keepers, a 2017 book by investigative journalist Jacques Pauw.
While the case centred on the former president's tax records and he was named as a respondent, he did not take part in the hearing.
"Mr Zuma has not opposed the application, neither in general nor in respect of the relief aimed at disclosure of his personal tax affairs and has not delivered any affidavit addressing the aforesaid allegations [of not submitting tax returns and owing millions of rands in tax] made regarding himself and his tax compliance," stated Davis.
#ZumaTaxRecords Davis J states there is no factual evidence that taxpayers in SA require secrecy to make full disclosure of their affairs. Reliance placed on Radovan Krejcir case b4 Con Court (where we acted for @mailandguardian) where Court was against absolute prohibitions 3/
— Dario Milo (@Dariomilo) November 16, 2021
AmaBhunagne and the Financial Mail lodged a joint application in the High Court to access to the former president's tax return in November 2019.
At the time, they said they took the decision after the Financial Mail unsuccessfully tried to access Zuma's tax records for the years between 2010 and 2018 by filing a PAIA application.
The application and a subsequent appeal were both denied by SARS on grounds of taxpayer confidentiality, and the fact that the PAIA excludes tax information from its public interest considerations.
'Striking a better balance'
AmaBhungane's co-managing partner, Sam Sole, told Fin24 on Tuesday that the publication was "delighted with the judgment".
Sole said the ruling removed the exemption that tax information enjoyed from the PAIA public interest override.
"This does not open the floodgates but provides for disclosure where the public interest clearly outweighs any harm, which it certainly does in this case. We think the social value of tax secrecy is exaggerated and mainly serves the powerful and not the community. This judgement begins to strike a better balance."
