28th & 29th October 2025
The WCO ESA Regional Management Committee (MC) meeting is underway, hosted by the South Africa Revenue Services (SARS) in Pretoria, South Africa. The meeting was attended by Prof. Edward Kieswetter, SARS Commissioner and Vice Chair of the WCO ESA Region, South Africa; Mr. Carl Scholtz, Deputy Commissioner, Enterprise Strategy and Modernization, South Africa; Mr. Beyers Theron, Director, Customs Border Operations, Ports of Entry and Customs Compliance, South Africa; Dr. Lainkana Zafivanona Ernest, Director General, Madagascar, and ESA Region Deputy Vice Chair; Mr. David Ontweka, Deputy Commissioner, Policy and International Affairs and additional Member to the Policy Commission, Kenya; Ms. Ethel Chitanda, the Finance and Governance Committee (FGC) Chair; and Mr. Innocent Bamusi, the deputy chair of the ESA Region Strategy Working Group, Malawi. SARS was further represented in the meeting by Ms. Thabile Ntombela, Head of International Cooperation and Mr. Patrick Tshikosi, Business Area Lead, Customs International & Inter-agency Programmes. The WCO ESA ROCB was represented by Ms. Josephine Manyasi, the Director and Ms. Faith Mosongo, Programmes Office.
Opening remarks delivered are highlighted as follows:
Prof. Edward Kieswetter, SARS Commissioner and Vice Chair of the WCO ESA Region, welcomed participants to Pretoria, South Africa. He acknowledged the delegates joining the meeting virtually including the ESA deputy vice chair, Dr. Ernest Lainkana, Madagascar; FGC Chair, Ms. Ethel Chitanda, Zimbabwe; and the Deputy Chair of the Strategy Working Group, Mr. Innocent Bamusi. He reminded the delegates of the important role played by Customs in protecting and safeguarding the wellbeing of the society, revenue collection and facilitation of legitimate trade. He addressed the challenges facing the global family including wars and conflicts that have caused untold grief, suffering, loss of life, starvation and resulted in other natural calamities including retaliation terrorism. He emphasized the evolving role of Customs in a changing world. Prof. Kieswetter called for stronger collaboration in the ESA region towards the successful implementation of the new regional strategy 2025-28 and encouraged Members to embrace data supported decision making that is based on facts while leveraging on emerging technologies to facilitate the collection of information and intelligence. He reaffirmed South Africa’s commitment to providing the region with leadership that is anchored on transparency, prudency and integrity. Lastly, he highlighted the urgent need to work towards acquiring the regional Customs laboratory and the Regional Dog Training Centre and urged the region to leverage on existing regional entities, regional economic communities and mutually beneficial partnerships for sustainable economic development.
The WCO ESA ROCB Director, Mrs. Josephine Manyasi, welcomed the members of the ESA Regional Management Committee (MC) and thanked South Africa for hosting the MC meeting. She appreciated the support of the Vice Chair’s Office towards the delivery of various capacity building activities during the reporting period. The Director pointed out that the ROCB remained committed to seeing the delivery of various capacity building activities in line with the regional strategic objectives: Efficient Trade Facilitation and Integration; Sustainable Revenue Mobilization & Digitalization; Protection of Society and the Environment; and enhancing Professionalism and Integrity within the twenty four(24) Member administrations by leveraging beneficial Partnerships. To this end, the ROCB has developed the implementation Work Plan that will guide the Implementation of the regional strategy 2025-28.
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