CT industry’s Sars issues persist

Cape Town industry has

seen little improvement in

day-to-day operations with

customs inspectors despite

complaints to the South

African Revenue Service

(Sars) head office, according

to Mike Walwyn, chairman

of the Cape’s Port Liaison

Forum.

He reiterated that one of

the biggest issues in Cape

Town was the lack of a Sars

regional manager.

“We have been assured

by Sars that all efforts are

under way to address this

and that by the end of the

year an appointment will be

made,” he told FTW. “That

is good news for Cape Town

and we are hopeful that

Sars will be able to make

a permanent appointment

soon.”

He said another meeting

had been held recently

with Sars officials in

Johannesburg highlighting

the impact of increased

stopping of containers in

Cape Town – particularly

in light of the lack of

manpower.

“The management team

is aware of our concerns

and has given us the

assurance they are

addressing the issue

and working on

implementing

solutions,”

he said.

Sars

spokesman

Sandile

Memele

agreed

saying a

dedicated

resource was

available to deal

with daily queries

in Cape Town following

a number of customer

complaints in the city.

He said the organisation

would continue to engage

with industry and was

in conversation with

representatives of the South

African Association of

Freight Forwarders (Saaff).

Clearing agents told

FTW that while head office

officials were cognisant

of the challenges and

were readily meeting with

officials, not much change

was being effected on the

ground.

“We have now

been struggling

to get a

stopped

container

released

for more

than two

weeks,”

said one

agent.

“There

is no

reason for

this container

to be stopped and

we have supplied all the

documentation, but we

continue to get requests

for more literature

to be supplied on the

consignment. It is costing

a fortune.”

Another agent

said he had had a

container stopped and

examined, but a week

later it had still not been

released.

“It is not uncommon for a

shipment to wait up to two

weeks now for a decision

of some sort,” he said. “The

time frame involved in

releasing containers is still

very long and it comes with

massive costs.”

Most clearing agents

say they are seeing slightly

fewer container stops

in Cape Town after the

issues were highlighted in

September.

“The service levels have

not improved, in fact, they

are probably getting worse,”

said one.

“Customs simply do

not have the resources

available to handle the

number of containers they

are stopping and they are

going to have to re-analyse

their approach,” said

Walwyn, commenting on

the challenges faced by the

industry in Cape Town.

But he remained

optimistic that the

situation would be resolved,

especially in light of Sars’

willingness to engage and

talk to industry.