For an effective, fair, just and equitable tax system to be established, certain fundamental principles have to be enforced to ultimately achieve a balance between government interests and taxpayers’ interests. The government is conferred with the power to tax which is derived from the Constitution. At first glance the government’s power to tax seems wide, but upon an analysis of the Constitution, one can note that the government’s power to tax is limited by certain structural, procedural and substantive limitations. By way of the Bill of Rights, the Constitution confers taxpayers with numerous rights which serve as the substantive limitations to the government’s power to tax. One of these fundamental taxpayers’ rights is the right of just administrative action, which is the sole focus of this dissertation. A right without a remedy to enforce same is of no consequence, and therefore the available remedy analysed is the remedy of judicial review which is regulated by the Constitution read together with PAJA and the Constitutional common law principles. The executive authority to tax vests in SARS, being an organ of state, which is headed by CSARS. Empowering legislation confers SARS, CSARS and other delegated SARS officials with the power to take decisions/exercise discretions. There are three types of empowering provisions which are differentiated, based on whether the remedy of objection and appeal is available to the taxpayer. Despite the availability of the remedy of objection and appeal, most decisions taken/discretions exercised by SARS and its delegated officials may amount to administrative action. The question which arises is whether taxpayers are equipped with a right and remedy to protect their interests from unlawful, unreasonable, and procedurally unfair exercise of such administrative action. S33 of the Constitution confers taxpayers with the fundamental right of just administrative action, and to enforce this right, taxpayers would have to implement the remedy of judicial review. The mere availability of a right and remedy does not provide taxpayers with protection; thus in order for the right and remedy to provide taxpayers with protection against the administrative action taken by SARS and its delegated officials, taxpayers would have to prove that the right and remedy is applicable and enforceable in the circumstances. The aim of this dissertation is to determine whether the right of just administrative action and the remedy of judicial review is applicable and enforceable in the tax arena. For the right and remedy to be applicable and enforceable, certain substantive and procedural requirements must be satisfied, and therefore those requirements are analysed in the tax arena in this dissertation. The substantive requirements which need be complied with are: (a) the administrator must be subject to the provisions of PAJA; (b) the conduct of the administrator must constitute “administrative action” as defined in PAJA; (c) the “administrative action” must materially and adversely affect taxpayer’s rights or legitimate expectations and have a “direct, external legal effect”; and (d), the “administrative action” must be found not be “lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair”, and if so, a ground as contemplated in s6 of PAJA must be applicable. The procedural requirements which needs be complied with are: (a) locus standi to institute judicial review proceedings; (b) time limitations in which judicial review proceedings must commence; (c) the exhaustion of all available internal remedies prior to the commencement of judicial review proceedings (unless there are exceptional circumstances); (d) that Rules regulating proceedings in terms of PAJA be established and determination of such Rules which will regulate judicial review proceedings until new Rules are promulgated. If, in the circumstances, the taxpayer can prove that he or she complies with all substantive and procedural requirements, then the right of just administrative action and remedy of judicial review is applicable and enforceable. It then needs to be established which forum would have the necessary jurisdiction to adjudicate upon the remedy of judicial review in the tax arena. There are two relevant Courts, namely the Tax Court and the High Court. The Tax Court has been established to adjudicate upon tax-related matters, whereas the High Court has inherent jurisdiction. It has been determined that in terms of the Constitution read together with PAJA, only a High Court or court with similar status may adjudicate upon judicial review. The Tax Court is a creature of statute and it has been held that the Tax Court does not have a similar status as the High Court. Case law has, however, previously held that the Tax Court has jurisdiction to review administrative action by SARS and its delegated officials. The leading case in this regard was, however, adjudicated upon in 1985, prior to the Constitution and PAJA having been promulgated. It therefore seems that the case law should be re-evaluated in light of the current Constitutional dispensation in which the Constitution is the supreme law. Finally, this dissertation provides a concise analysis of the powers which the forum having jurisdiction to adjudicate upon judicial review has to make orders. It is prudent to emphasise that this dissertation focuses on the position prior to 1 October 2012. On 1 October 2012 the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011 (the TAA) came into force and effect. The TAA is relevant to some of the issues discussed in this dissertation. Where the TAA influences the issues, mention is made of the provisions of the TAA, but these are not discussed. Therefore a recommendation for further research is that this dissertation be re-evaluated in light of the provisions of the TAA. The most relevant provisions which the TAA caters for, which may influence the topic of this dissertation, is the establishment of the Tax Ombud and the conferring of a limited remedy of review upon SARS and its delegated officials, in addition to the remedy of objection and appeal. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Mercantile Law / unrestricted

published_or_final_version / abstract / Microbiology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Pathology / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Biological Sciences / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Chemistry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Abstract The South African Revenue Service (‘SARS’) and National Treasury has in the recent past identified various areas of tax in which taxpayers have been avoiding tax by arranging their affairs in a certain way. An area which SARS and National Treasury sees as being a danger to the South African tax base is the utilisation of trusts by individuals. This was made evident in the 2013 National Budget Speech by way of a passing high-level comment on how SARS proposes to mitigate the risk that trusts pose to the South African tax base. This research evaluates whether trusts do in fact pose a valid risk to erode the tax base and whether they are as ‘deadly’ as they are made out to be. A discussion of the taxation of local trusts is included in this paper and it continues by analysing the various antiavoidance provisions contained in the Income Tax Act. In addition, this paper discusses the proposed amendments to be made to the current tax regime as well as the revised tax return format for trusts and the supposed purpose thereof. The paper concludes on the validity of the concern raised by both SARS and National Treasury in respect of trusts being used as vehicles to erode the South African tax base.

The SARS virus is the etiological agent of the severe acute respiratory syndrome, a deadly disease that caused more than 700 causalities in 2003. One of its viral proteins, the SARS coronavirus main protease, is considered as a potential drug target and represents an important model system for other coronaviruses. Despite extensive knowledge about this enzyme, it still lacks an effective anti-viral drug. Furthermore, it possesses some unusual features related to its active-site region. This work gives atomistic insights into the SARS coronavirus main protease and tries to reveal mechanistic aspects that control catalysis and inhibition. Thereby, it applies state-of-the-art computational methods to develop models for this enzyme that are capable to reproduce and interpreting the experimental observations. The theoretical investigations are elaborated over four main fields that assess the accuracy of the used methods, and employ them to understand the function of the active-site region, the inhibition mechanism, and the ligand binding. The testing of different quantum chemical methods reveals that their performance depends partly on the employed model. This can be a gas phase description, a continuum solvent model, or a hybrid QM/MM approach. The latter represents the preferred method for the atomistic modeling of biochemical reactions. A benchmarking uncovers some serious problems for semi-empirical methods when applied in proton transfer reactions. To understand substrate cleavage and inhibition of SARS coronavirus main protease, proton transfer reactions between the Cys/His catalytic dyad are calculated. Results show that the switching between neutral and zwitterionic state plays a central role for both mechanisms. It is demonstrated that this electrostatic trigger is remarkably influenced by substrate binding. Whereas the occupation of the active-site by the substrate leads to a fostered zwitterion formation, the inhibitor binding does not mimic this effect for the employed example. The underlying reason is related to the coverage of the active-site by the ligand, which gives new implications for rational improvements of inhibitors. More detailed insights into reversible and irreversible inhibition are derived from in silico screenings for the class of Michael acceptors that follow a conjugated addition reaction. From the comparison of several substitution patterns it becomes obvious that different inhibitor warheads follow different mechanisms. Nevertheless, the initial formation of a zwitterionic catalytic dyad is found as a common precondition for all inhibition reactions. Finally, non-covalent inhibitor binding is investigated for the case of SARS coranavirus main protease in complex with the inhibitor TS174. A novel workflow is developed that includes an interplay between theory and experiment in terms of molecular dynamic simulation, tabu search, and X-ray structure refinement. The results show that inhibitor binding is possible for multiple poses and stereoisomers of TS174. / Das Schwere Akute Respiratorische Syndrom (SARS) wird durch eine Infektion mit dem SARS Virus ausgelöst, dessen weltweite Verbreitung 2003 zu über 700 Todesfällen führte. Die SARS Coronavirus Hauptprotease stellt ein mögliches Wirkstoffziel zur Behandlung dar und hat Modellcharakter für andere Coronaviren. Trotz intensiver Forschung sind bis heute keine effektiven Wirkstoffe gegen SARS verfügbar. Die vorliegende Arbeit gibt Einblicke in die mechanistischen Aspekte der Enzymkatalyse und Inhibierung der SARS Coronavirus Hauptprotease. Hierzu werden moderne computerchemische Methoden angewandt, die mittels atomistischer Modelle experimentelle Ergebnisse qualitativ reproduzieren und interpretieren können. Im Zuge der durchgeführten theoretischen Arbeiten wird zunächst eine Fehlereinschätzung der Methoden durchgeführt und diese nachfolgend auf Fragestellungen zur aktiven Tasche, dem Inhibierungsmechanismus und der Ligandenbindung angewandt. Die Einschätzung der quantenchemischen Methoden zeigt, dass deren Genauigkeit teilweise von der Umgebungsbeschreibung abhängt, welche als Gasphasen, Kontinuum, oder QM/MM Modell dargestellt werden kann. Letzteres gilt als Methode der Wahl für die atomistische Modellierung biochemischer Reaktionen. Die Vergleiche zeigen für semi-empirische Methoden gravierende Probleme bei der Beschreibung von Proton-Transfer Reaktionen auf. Diese wurden für die katalytische Cys/His Dyade betrachtet, um Einblicke in Substratspaltung und Inhibierung zu erhalten. Dem Wechsel zwischen neutralem und zwitterionischem Zustand konnte hierbei eine zentrale Bedeutung für beide Prozesse zugeordnet werden. Es zeigt sich, dass dieser „electrostatic trigger“ von der Substratbindung, nicht aber von der Inhibitorbindung beeinflusst wird. Folglich beschleunigt ausschließlich die Substratbindung die Zwitterionbildung, was im Zusammenhang mit der Abschirmung der aktiven Tasche durch den Liganden steht. Dies gibt Ansatzpunkte für die Verbesserung von Inhibitoren. Aus in silico screenings werden genauere Einblicke in die reversible und irreversible Inhibierung durch Michael-Akzeptor Verbindungen gewonnen. Es wird gezeigt, dass unterschiedlichen Substitutionsmustern unterschiedliche Reaktionsmechanismen in der konjugierten Additionsreaktion zugrunde liegen. Die vorangehende Bildung eines Cys-/His+ Zwitterions ist allerdings für alle Inhibierungsmechanismen eine notwendige Voraussetzung. Letztendlich wurde die nicht-kovalente Bindung eines Inhibitors am Beispiel des TS174-SARS Coronavirus Hauptprotease Komplexes untersucht. Im Zusammenspiel von Theorie und Experiment wurde ein Prozess, bestehend aus Molekulardynamik Simulation, Tabu Search und Röntgenstruktur Verfeinerung ausgearbeitet, der eine Interpretation der Bindungssituation von TS174 ermöglicht. Im Ergebnis zeigt sich, dass der Inhibitor gleichzeitig in mehreren Orientierungen, als auch in beiden stereoisomeren Formen im Komplex vorliegt.

The thesis examines a mediated crisis and how The Straits Times and The Australian approach the reporting of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). It looks at how this mediated crisis exemplifies the culture of the national newspaper and in turn how the national newspaper has an historical influence on the national psyche. A total of 649 reports and headlines and 141 letters about SARS in The Straits Times (including The Straits Time Interactive) were examined from April 2003 to November 2003 as were 125 headlines from The Australian. The early sections of the thesis discuss how a crisis makes news; examine how the media report a crisis and what emphasis is given to aspects such as: actors, primary definers, vocabulary, lexical choices, subjects, themes, issues and value dimension or stance. The first chapter defines crisis, journalism and crisis journalism and discusses where the latter sits within the continuing expansion and development of major theoretical frameworks, including living in a risk society. The implication here is that crisis and risk have a symbiotic relationship. Historical perspectives of news are discussed in Chapter 2, and the newspaper is placed within the context of contemporary media. The chapter discusses how newspapers are aligned with the concept of the national mind and demonstrates the roles and formations of the two newspapers in relation to the SARS crisis. Chapter 3 codes the headlines, article titles and subtitles of The Straits Times and The Australian and using content analysis of the headlines, analyses the reporting of a serious health crisis SARS that lasted from March to November, 2003. The quantification within content analysis enables a researcher to read and interpret questions that relate to the intensity of meaning in texts, their social impact, the relationships between media texts and the realities and representations they reflect (Hansen et al, 1998). The theory and method of content analysis is used in this chapter to consider differences between The Straits Times and The Australian and to exemplify the media’s representation of the narratives of SARS as it happened in the countries of Singapore and Australia. Aspects of crisis and risk, the newspaper and the national mind, narratives, presentations, and post SARS events are discussed in the last chapter. It is concluded from these discussions there is a world narrative that tells the story of how the human condition likes to live and rely on a safe social environment always being available. The relationship between a mediated crisis and risk are also discussed. In addition, it is maintained that reporting in 2003 was not just about SARS but a way of reporting that allowed one to view journalism as an aid to good governance, particularly with regard to living in a risk and crisis-ridden society.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Also available online.