Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse
{{subst:draft-prod}}
Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA)[1], is a non-profit Civil Action Organisation, situated in Johannesburg, South Africa. The organisation focuses on tackling government corruption and misappropriation of public funds. OUTA was founded by Wayne Duvenage, who chaired the organisation at inception, with Paul Pauwen and Michael Tatalias as its founding directors. Initially established in early 2012 as the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance|Opposition Against Urban Tolling Alliance, the organisation set out to challenge the South African Government’s plans to introduce an urban e-tolling system in province of Gauteng. OUTA believed the system to be unlawful and successfully approached the high court to interdict the launch of the scheme in April 2012. The Part B merit arguments of the application ruled that the e-Toll scheme was lawfully allowed to proceed, but denied SANRAL a punitive costs order in the Supreme Court of Appeal. In 2015 OUTA launched the Rule of Law campaign and promised to challenge the legality of procedures against payment defaulters who might be summonsed by the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL).
In February 2016, OUTA changed its name to Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, to accommodate the expansion of its mandate to challenge corruption and maladministration in Government and its State Owned Entities. It also set out to provide insights and proof of State Capture corruption[2] to Parliament in June 2017, by releasing its No Room To Hide report, which largely implicated former President Jacob Zuma.
In 2018 OUTA launched its Local Government initiative, headed by former parliamentarian Dr. Makhosi Khoza. This division of OUTA tackles maladministration and corruption in local government and seeks to hold administrators to account where municipalities have become dysfunctional and suffer from poor service delivery.
OUTA uses a crowdfunding model to finance its operations and obtains the bulk of its income from the general public and small to medium sized businesses.
History[edit]
Previously known as Opposition Against Urban Tolling Alliance, the organisation was a public coalition which embarked on initiatives to challenge and halt the South African Government’s electronic vehicle tolling (e-Tolls), decided on in 2008 and introduced in 2013 to finance the expansion of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP). The coalition was made up of businessmen (mostly in the car rental trade) and supported by business associations of: South African Vehicle Renting and Leasing Association (SAVRALA), the Retail Motor Industry (RMI), the SA Tourism Services Association (SATSA), the SA National Consumer Union (SANCU) and the QuadPara Association of SA (QASA) Following a long and costly court challenge from 2012 to 2103, OUTA embarked on a civil action campaign to empower the motoring public with their rights to challenge the e-toll scheme, rendering it a failure and low compliance levels at below 35% for most of its first five years of operation.
Following OUTA's court challenge to review the scheme’s legitimacy from 2012 to 2013, OUTA embarked on a civil action campaign to empower the motoring public with their rights to challenge the e-toll scheme. Civil disobedience and public resistance against e-Tolls has largely rendered the scheme a failure. According to then Minister of Transport Joe Maswanganyi, in response to questions put to him in parliament in June 2017, compliance levels to the Gauteng e-Tolls[3] scheme slumped to below 30% within the first three years of operation.
State Capture[edit]
Leading up to the vote of no confidence in President Zuma in August 2017, OUTA published it’s No Room To Hide: A President Caught in the Act report which was a narrative complication of the Gupta leaks which linked him in State Capture. Evidence in the report lead the organisation to lay treason charges against, Public Enterprises director general Mogokare Richard Seleke and Communications Minister Faith Muthambi[2]; fraud and theft charges against Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane and corruption and fraud charges against Malusi Gigaba as the former Minister of Home Affairs. Several commissions of inquiry ensued into the officials influence by the Gupta family. In 2018 the commission of inquiry into state capture began its public hearings. OUTA made its first submission to the State Capture Commission, also known as the Zondo Commission, on Monday 17 September 2018.
References[edit]
- ↑ News24, 2018, OUTA news; Media24; https://www.news24.com/Tags/Companies/outa
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedSABC - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedeNCA
Zintle Mahlati; 2018; Makhosi Khoza to head up Outa's local government programme; IOL; 4 MAY 2018, 11:04AM; https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/makhosi-khoza-to-head-up-outas-local-government-programme-14778628
Wayne Duvenage; October 5, 2012; OUTA ADAMANT – E-TOLLS ARE WRONG FOR SA http://savrala.co.za/consumers/2012/10/05/outa-adamant-e-tolls-are-wrong-for-sa-3/
Nickolaus Bauer; 24 Apr 2012 20:54; Outa's e-tolling challenge hangs in the balance; Mail & Guardian; https://mg.co.za/article/2012-04-24-etolling-challenge-hangs-in-the-balance
Staff reporter; 28 Apr 2012; Court halts e-tolling; Mail & Guardian; https://mg.co.za/article/2012-04-28-court-halts-etolling
(Author); Friday 11 July, 2014; Campaign Not Civil Disobedience: OUTA; SANGONET; http://www.ngopulse.org/newsflash/campaign-not-civil-disobedience-outa
Motoring Staff; 18 OCTOBER 2017, Sanral continues to bully e-toll defaulters – Outa; https://www.iol.co.za/motoring/industry-news/sanral-continues-to-bully-e-toll-defaulters-outa-11613041
Matthew le Cordeur; JANUARY 18, 2016; Outa extends scope – Undoing Tax Abuse. Beyond tolls including nuclear, SAA; https://www.biznews.com/briefs/2016/01/18/outa-extends-scope-undoing-tax-abuse-beyond-tolls-including-nuclear-saa
OUTA; 28 June 2017; No room to hide: A President caught in the act; Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse
Duvenage W and Serrao A; 2015; The E-toll Saga: A Journey from CEO to Civil Activist; Pan Macmillan; South Africa ASIN B01121LY5K
David Makhura announced team to review eTolls - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVonpCgfRgM
Mawela T, Ochara N M and Twinomurinzi H; Missed opportunities for introducing transformational government: Assessing the contentious e-toll project in South Africa: https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/57313/Mawela_Missed_2016.pdf?sequence=1
This article "Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
|
This page exists already on Wikipedia. |
