Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters)

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/10539/37781

Browse

Browsing Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters) by SDG "SDG-16: Peace, justice and strong institutions"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Automatic exchange of tax information and the right to privacy: a South African constitutional analysis
    (2021) Mia, Aisha Bibi
    Broad-based automatic exchanges of information are increasingly viewed as the norm in global tax practice. The mass transmission of large amounts of personal and financial data creates informational risks and implicates the privacy rights of impacted data subjects. This investigation considers the interaction between broad-based automatic exchanges of information –specifically the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and FATCA– and the right to privacy contained in section 14 of the South African Constitution. To date there has not been any authoritative legal precedent on this area and the available academic literature is also limited. Applying a doctrinal research method and drawing on the approach employed by the Constitutional Court when adjudicating Bill of Rights matters; a synthesis and analysis of various written sources was undertaken. The sources consulted include: legislation, South African case law, international law, treaty instruments, foreign case law, policy papers and academic literature. This study finds that the CRS exchange of taxpayer information is aimed at reducing global tax evasion and is reciprocal in nature. Additionally, the exchanges take place within a robust privacy framework. Accordingly, the CRS is constitutionally valid, with only limited opportunity to further enhance constitutional consonance. Contrastingly, the FATCA data exchanges are de facto unilateral. They cannot therefore be linked to any legitimate objective to improve tax compliance and revenues in South Africa. In this regard the investigation concludes that FATCA fails to pass constitutional muster.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The implementation of Section 139(1) of the Constitution in the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality
    (2017) Kampi, Zoliswa
    The Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality (NMMDM) is situated in the North West Province, South Africa. It has persistently been placed under provincial administration (s139 (1) of the Constitution) and continuously resisted the interventions including taking legal actions against the North West Provincial Executive. The objectives of the research study were to explore and provide insights into the factors that informed and impacted the planning and implementation of s139(1) interventions in the NMMDM, and to explain how these factors either promoted or undermined the success of these interventions. From the literature review undertaken, the researcher drew critical themes and concepts that underpin the research study. The leadership and governance theories provided the theoretical perspectives and the principal-agent theory underscored the conceptual framework. In line with the exploratory nature of the research study, the qualitative research method was preferred and the NMMDM was adopted as a single case study to get a deeper understanding of the intricacies involved in the planning and implementation of s139(1) interventions. The researcher obtained the primary data through semi-structured interviews with the municipal leadership and used document analysis to gather secondary data. The research findings revealed the richness and complexity of the local government discourses. Through analysing the results of these discourses, a number of critical aspects that informed and impacted these interventions in the NMMDM emerged. These aspects range from the nature of to the quality of support provided to the NMMDM prior to the interventions. These include the communication of the directives and notices to assume responsibility, details given on the rationale for the interventions, political dynamics and their influence on reactions to the interventions, capacity of the province to plan and implement the interventions, and perceptions of the impacts of the interventions. Nevertheless, it is not the intention of the research study to generalise the findings but to present them as they manifested in the NMMDM.