Mr Chairperson, we are jointly debating three pieces of legislation today, but I shall confine my comments to the Customs Control Bill, and more specifically to the legal opinion side of it.
On 1 November 2013 Sars briefed Prof G T S Eiselen to give them an opinion on the change of policy under debate today, which requires importers to lodge a national transit declaration to the manifest. This change was a contentious issue at the National Economic Development and Labour Council, Nedlac. Many claimed that the change in policy and the requirement that goods be cleared at the first port of entry, rather than the so-called inland ports, would lead to refusal on the part of carriers to engage in contracts of carriage past the first port of entry, thereby negatively impacting on the so-called inland ports, in particular City Deep, and thus causing delays. Prof Eiselen found that there was no real evidence or substantive argument indicating that.
Sars then briefed another senior counsel, Adv C J Pammenter, on the same issue, as to whether Chapter 9 of the Bill would introduce a change in the existing procedure for the clearing of imported goods destined for the so- called inland ports. He found that this would not happen and there would be no out of the ordinary customs delays. He concurred with Prof Eiselen's opinion.
Then Sars went another mile. They briefed another senior counsel, Adv A P Joubert. He concurred with Adv Pammenter's and Prof Eiselen's views. He found that all fears raised by the concerned commentators had been allayed by Sars. Sars, and in particular Kosie Louw sitting in the benches behind me, must be commended for having sought three very well respected lawyers' opinions on the contested issues in this Bill. Maybe Business Unity SA should have employed lawyers and not accountants to advise them on this Bill.
I am happy that it will be very wise to support the change of policy according to the Bill. City Deep is safe and Johannesburg needs to know that.
The Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union presented a very practical submission to the committee on the impact there will be, if we do not change the Bill. Customs fraud is a very big and serious issue in South Africa. Every day fraudulently imported goods are sold in South Africa. This leads to job losses and robs the fiscus of income. For instance, and the hon Mufamadi referred to this, the total clothing imports coming from China to South Africa, and declared by China in 2012, was valued at R14,8 billion. However, South Africa only declared R7,7 billion. So, underdeclared clothing of R7,1 billion entered our shores from China. That means we have lost roughly R3,2 billion on these imports in 2012 alone. It is about time to introduce new measures, and Cope will support all three pieces of legislation.