New chapter begins in Customs/stakeholder relationship

Three months into his tenure

as chief officer for Customs &

Excise, Jed Michaletos has sent

out a clear message about his

priorities as he steps into the

hot seat.

Capacity,

peopledevelopment

and control of

goods top the

list.

“There’s been

a significant

investment in

technology and

modernisation

over the

years with

great success.

From a paper

perspective we’ve reduced the

number of pieces of paper for

goods clearance from

40 million to 800 000.

“Physical inspection time

has been reduced from

eight hours to two, and real

processing time of declarations

is seven seconds where in

the past it could take days.

And from a trade facilitation

perspective we’ve halved the

number of days it takes to

import goods.”

An unintended

consequences however has

been that people development

has lagged behind – and that

will be a key focus.

“First will be to rebuild the

pride and discipline of the

Customs & Excise service.

We’ve been procuring uniforms

so that everyone at the

frontline is easily identifiable.

“We’re also embarking on

several campaigns to show

the impact of the work we do

and to make

customs a

profession of

choice.”

Skills

development

and

succession

planning is

another key

area. “We have

a number

of customs

officers who

are due to

retire and we need to transfer

that institutional knowledge.

“Our immediate plan is

to get them back to help us

at our academy. One of our

strategic initiatives is to create

a Sars institute of learning – to

modernise and revitalise the

way we go about the academy

and to build a world class

facility.

“We want to do a full

revamp of the curriculum,

looking at best practice

globally.”

Michaletos was in China

recently where he visited the

customs college in Shanghai

with a view to replicating their

best practices in South Africa.

A big part of the new

strategy is marrying

theoretical and practical

experience and with this

in mind current staff will

supplement the trainers.

“We’re looking at developing

a simulated environment –

building a mock scanning site

and a mock inspection site, for

example.”

The introduction of a

rotation policy for staff at the

frontline will not only mean

that officers will not end up

working at the same border for

their entire working life – but

will assist with skills transfer.”

One of the most critical

challenges will be the

implementation of the new

customs act programme.

“Everything is on track

to introduce registration

licensing and accreditation

(RLA) before the end of the

2016/17 financial year.

“The Control Act rules close

for comment on April 1 and

all rules will most likely be

finalised by the second half of

this year.”

It’s acknowledged that

stakeholder engagement

will be vital and Michaletos

has committed to

engaging proactively and

communicating.

“We want to revive

the national stakeholder

forum – for which the

terms of reference are

nearly finalised – and

we’ll start those sessions again

on a regular basis involving

all stakeholders. The regional

forums would then cascade

into a national forum.”

An accountant by

profession,

Michaletos has

spent the past

18 years at

Deloitte’s

where he was

responsible

for the

customs and

global trade

consulting

team in South

Africa with

responsibility for

Africa.

Having done a lot of work in

the public sector, specifically

with revenue authorities in

Africa, he understands the

issues and challenges from a

stakeholder perspective.

“I’ve always seen things

from the other side of the

fence,” he told FTW.

“In many instances

the main value I

bring is perspective.

I’ve see where Sars

was erring and

where they were

battling – now I

can

apply those

insights.”

INSERT & CAPTION

I’ve always seen

things from the other

side of the fence. The

main value I bring is

perspective.

– Jed Michaletos