Sait CEO Keith Engel resigns after nearly a decade at the helm

Has been embroiled in several legal battles with The Tax Faculty.

The board of the South African Institute of Taxation (Sait) has announced in a notice to members that Keith Engel, the institute’s CEO, has resigned effective 1 October. He will leave the organisation at the end of December. He has been CEO of Sait since 2015.

Previously, as chief director of legal tax policy at National Treasury, Engel played a pivotal role in the development of key tax legislation in South Africa. He was considered instrumental in shaping the country’s tax policy.

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The board says in its member notice, sent to Moneyweb, that Engel established strong relationships with stakeholders, particularly with the South African Revenue Service (Sars) and Treasury.

“His collaborative and highly technical capacity leave a positive legacy for all South Africans.”

However, a public feud between Sait and The Tax Faculty (TTF), particularly between Engel and TFF CEO Stiaan Klue, has been harming both institutions.

This led to Sait, as a recognised controlling body (RCB), refusing to accept the continuing professional development credits its members obtained from the faculty, despite other RCBs accepting the CPD points their members obtain from the faculty.

Read: Sait vs The Tax Faculty: The war gets heated

Several members have questioned whether a professional body like Sait could, in terms of its constitution, deny members the freedom of choice when it comes to CPD service providers.

“Not one claim suggested that The Tax Faculty training standards and CPD offering is inferior,” said one member.

“Why then [are] personal issues and allegations between two individuals allowed to be used to hold students and tax practitioners ransom?”

One of the battles …

One battle relates to the change of the faculty’s memorandum of incorporation and Engel’s legal efforts to have the directors of the faculty removed. He has accused them, among others, of being incompetent. 

The Tax Faculty Trust was established in 2016. The faculty was converted to a non-profit organisation in 2019 and registered as a public benefit organisation. The memorandum of incorporation was amended. This was necessary as the status of the faculty was altered between 2019 and 2022.  

In April 2023, the trust brought an application to have the faculty’s 2022 memorandum of incorporation declared null and void and sought to have the faculty’s directors removed on the basis of incompetence.

For its part, the faculty brought an application asking the court for an order to have the trust provide security for costs should it be unsuccessful in the 2023 matter. 

Read:
Legal battles between tax bodies continue to affect their members
Sait vs The Tax Faculty: Both sides put their cases

The trust brought an interlocutory application against the faculty for seeking an order to compel Engel to provide security for costs in its main application.

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The court found in favour of the faculty, ordering the trust to provide security for its main case and to pay the faculty’s cost, which included the costs of senior counsel on the highest scale.

“It is settled law that the trust … is only required to provide security if the costs of the main application is vexatious, reckless or otherwise amounts to an abuse,” Judge H Kooverjie said.

In her judgment, she said it was common cause that the trust did not have the necessary funds to satisfy any adverse costs that may be granted against it.

Read: Legal skirmishes between Sait and The Tax Faculty continue

She said the court needed more than just that to justify an order to furnish security. The court must be satisfied that the main action is vexatious or reckless or amounts to an abuse of process of court.

After considering all the facts, including the nature of the claim and the trust’s financial position, and weighing both parties’ versions against the principles of equity and fairness, Kooverjie was of the view that the trust must furnish security. 

In exercising her discretion, Kooverjie found that the trust’s case was “unassailable” as the faculty is a public benefit organisation. “The decision-making powers are statutorily ordained, not only in the Companies Act, but in terms of the Income Tax Act as well.”

The Sait board says it will now focus on finding a suitable successor who can further advance Sait’s mission.

Saipa dismisses chief operations officer

The South African Institute of Professional Accountants (Saipa) has dismissed its chief operations officer, Gavin Isaacs, following a forensic investigation and disciplinary hearing. He was found guilty on one of four charges.

The institute has already dismissed its chief executive, Shahied Daniels, after both executives were subjected to disciplinary hearings by independent chairs. An official statement will be released on Monday.

Read:
Top executives suspended at accounting body
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