Former South African Revenue Service (SARS) Commissioner Oupa Magashula has died at 63.
In a statement released by his family on Wednesday evening, he passed away after a long illness and an extended period in hospital.
“Oupa Magashula served South Africa with distinction in both the private and public sectors, including senior roles at Telkom and South African Breweries (SAB), and later as Commissioner of SARS,” said family spokesperson, Thebe Ikalafeng.
He is survived by his wife and two children.
“He will be remembered for humility, warmth and unwavering commitment to South Africa and its people. He was a devoted husband, father, brother, colleague and friend.”
Magashula joined Sars in 2006, when he was appointed as the head of Human Resources and Corporate Services, and served on their executive committee. He later took charge of an operational division within SARS responsible for contact centres, processing centres and delivery enablement. Before SARS, he was HR director at Telkom. After working in the early 80s, he worked as a trade unionist. He completed a BSc (Oceanography and Chemistry) in 1991 at the University of Cape Town and later completed business management courses at the UCT Business School. He has worked in the private sector both in operations and HR at Nampak, Sun International and Anglo Vaal Industries.
Ikalafeng added how Magashula had been dealing with many health issues, including a stroke.
“His wife of 31 years, Yvonne Magashula and their two children, Thebe, who is 28 and Tawana, who is 18 years old, are not taking the news with ease at all. But they have been dealing with this for some time,” Ikalafeng said. “He suffered a stroke three weeks ago and has been in the hospital since. He suffered a few strokes and several cardiac arrests. The last cardiac arrest is what took his life.”
Details on the funeral and memorial service will be publicly shared in due time.
