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The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has called for stronger, enforceable ethics rules in Parliament, warning that proposed amendments to the Code of Ethical Conduct still leave critical accountability gaps. In its formal submission to Parliament’s Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests, OUTA supports the intent to improve transparency and ethical leadership, but cautions …
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) welcomes government’s decision to reduce the fuel levy by approximately R3 per litre for petrol and close to R4 per litre for diesel. This intervention is both necessary and appropriate in helping to mitigate what would have been a severe price shock on 1 April. But it came too …
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) notes Eskom’s decision to extend the deadline for residential solar system registration. This extension follows widespread public resistance to the registration requirement. OUTA believes this response has played an important role in slowing down a policy that lacks clear legal and practical justification. South Africans who have invested in …
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has uncovered a failed R39 million sewer infrastructure project in Pomona, Kempton Park, where public funds have been spent, no functional pipeline has been delivered, and residents continue to live with raw sewage flooding their properties years after government intervention. The project was intended to resolve long-standing sewer failures …
On 20 March 2026, the Administrator for Services Seta (SSETA) confirmed what should never have taken seven years to admit: three whistleblowers had been unfairly dismissed. This finding follows legal advice from SSETA’s internal legal team, an independent law firm, and Senior Counsel. It comes just two weeks after another whistleblower at the Construction SETA …
R520 billion and counting: South Africa’s failing state-owned enterprises received more than R520 billion in government support between 2008 and 2023. Pay without performance: OUTA’s new report finds weak links between board remuneration and the actual performance of SOEs. Opaque remuneration practices: Board pay structures remain inconsistently transparent and vulnerable to political influence. Accountability gap: …
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has concluded a two-year investigation into corruption risks, governance failures, and student accommodation quality within the NSFAS (National Student Financial Aid Scheme) student accommodation system, finding that structural changes materially altered how billions in public funds flow through the student accommodation pipeline on which thousands of students depend. This …
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) says the 2026 Budget avoids major tax shocks and offers measured relief to taxpayers and small businesses in the same year as local government elections, but stops short of the decisive reform South Africa urgently needs. Government withdrew the previously announced R20bn tax increase and provided full inflation relief …
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has submitted its recommendations to the Minister of Finance ahead of the 2026 National Budget, urging Treasury to entrench reform rather than shift additional burdens onto already stretched households and businesses. OUTA says last year’s decision not to proceed with a broad-based 2% VAT increase demonstrated that credible alternatives …
South Africa does not lack water laws. It lacks consequence management. South Africans do not need another promise of reform. They need functioning infrastructure, clean rivers, and water that runs when the tap is opened. The Water Services Amendment Bill acknowledges what communities have known for years. Across large parts of the country, municipal water …
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) finds President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2026 State of the Nation Address (SONA) deeply disappointing. South Africans have heard many of his hollow promises and plans before. From tackling corruption to building universities, to job creation, professionalising the public sector, and addressing procurement maladministration, the commitments sounded familiar, but implementation has …
Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts is conducting an inquiry into the fund
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) believes recent threats by Eskom and certain municipalities to fine or disconnect electricity supply for failing to register their small-scale embedded generation (SSEG) systems (Solar PV) are impractical, irrational and unfair. We have also notice significant amendments to earlier supposed requirements and deadlines by the authorities, which is generating …
OUTA has filed legal action aimed at overturning the re-appointment of Gugu Mkhize as the CEO of the Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority (Inseta) for another five years. The action was lodged in the Pretoria High Court in December 2025, and has since been served on the respondents, Minister of Higher Education and Training …
Courts are clogged with thousands of RAF cases
OUTA is concerned by yet another extension of the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) board, which has already seen its tenure being reinstated into a second three-year stint and consequently undergone a further two-year extension beyond that. This is no longer an isolated delay. What should be a short caretaker measure has become standard …
The Transport Ministry won a court order setting aside the tender award of its own entity due to irregularities which had been exposed by OUTA which welcomed the Pretoria High Court decision to overturn the driving licence card machine contract at the Transport Ministry’s request. The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) welcomes the court order …
Today National Treasury announced it is bailing out the failed Ithala state-owned company (SOC) with R2.2 billion and OUTA is concerned. Ithala SOC Ltd is an entity wholly owned by the Ithala Development Finance Corporation Ltd (Ithala DFC) which, in turn, is an SOC wholly owned by the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government, managed through the KZN …
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has reviewed the Association of Municipal Electricity Utilities’ (AMEUs) recent position paper on safety compliance for Small-Scale Embedded Generation installations under 1 MVA. Public and electrical workers’ safety is non-negotiable. However, the AMEU paper unfortunately contains several incorrect interpretations of legislation and introduces requirements that fall well outside the …
The 2025 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) presented by Minister Enoch Godongwana is one of the better statements produced by the Ministry of Finance in many years. It reflects encouraging signs of an improving economic environment, with stronger revenue collections, a reduced debt-to-GDP ratio, and savings on debt-service costs showing indications of stabilisation and a …
Former CEO and director the City of Joburg Property Company (JPC) Helen Botes says she did nothing wrong at JPC and, if she did, it was as the CEO and not as a director. Botes said this in her plea outlining her defence in response to OUTA’s legal action against her, which calls on the …
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) welcomes government’s recognition that the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) system is not ready for implementation, following Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy’s announcement that the rollout will be postponed to July 2026. “This delay was inevitable,” says OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage. “AARTO was never ready, not in …
Today OUTA releases its 7th annual Parliamentary Oversight Report, titled The Review Nobody Escapes. The 2025 edition shines a bright, persistent light on how effectively South Africa’s 7th Parliament is fulfilling its constitutional duty to hold the executive to account. This year’s report draws on insights derived from the ParliMeter dashboard, developed by OUTA, the Parliamentary …
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) welcomes Eskom’s decision to ease the costly red tape around residential solar and battery energy systems, which is a long-overdue step toward less onerous conditions pertaining to the registration process required by Eskom. Until now, Eskom required all small-scale embedded generation (SSEG) systems – including hybrid, standby and back-up solar …