Dumisani Masilela Resigns as Head of Eswatini Revenue Service

Eswatini Daily News
14 January 2022

The Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg, today announced that Commissioner General, Mr Dumsani E. Masilela has resigned from Eswatini Revenue Service. Masilela is leaving Eswatini for greener pastures to join the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Eswatini Revenue Authority (ERS) was established at the height of the global financial crisis and he was mandated to efficiently collect revenue to finance the development programs for the country. Masilela managed to tighten all screws in revenue collection and has been consistent in meeting targets to enable the government machinery to run. On the other hand a number of businesses have complained about the heavy handed approach by ERS in revenue collection. Government then established the Eswatini Revenue Appeals Tribunal to govern the adjudication of tax appeals under the Revenue Appeals Tribunal Act of 2019.

A Manzini based business man said “the departure of Masilela is a huge loss to the economy. He was tough but he got the job done and ERS is one of the best run public enterprises in the country, even far much better than most private companies.”

The Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS) is a semi-autonomous revenue administration agency, established through the Revenue Authority Act No. 1 of 2008. It operates within the broad framework of Government but outside of the civil service. The ERS has a Governing Board which is appointed by the Minister of Finance in accordance with the Eswatini Public Enterprise Act.