An incident in which the phone lines to one of its monitoring offices were cut is not significant, says the South African Revenue Service (SARS).
The copper and fibre-optic cables connecting the SARS service monitoring office (SSMO), in Hatfield, Pretoria, were severed by a contractor working for the Gautrain project.
According to a SARS statement, the cables which were cut also affected thousands other Telkom customers in Hatfield, along with the SSMO. SARS spokesperson Adrian Lackay says the office does not handle a significant amount of calls.
“The SSMO is an independent monitoring office, which customers can call to highlight service failures within SARS,” explains Lackay. “Yet, compared to the hundred of thousands of calls we receive at our main office, there is no cause for concern.”
SARS says the SSMO's phone and fax lines have been down since last week Friday when the contractor severed the copper cables, ranging between 20-pair and 2 400-pair cables, and the fibre-optic cable. The statement adds that Telkom technical personnel are working around the clock to repair the lines by Monday, 25 May.
Telkom could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.
Related stories:
Prepare payroll for SARS changes
Taxpayers hit by refund scam
E-filing withstands last-minute rush
eFiling gains momentum
Share