The supreme court of appeal is expected to hear an appeal by billionaire businessman Mark Shuttleworth against a R250m levy imposed by the South African Reserve Bank, the Sunday Independent reported.
Shuttleworth would on Thursday argue against the decision by judge Francis Legodi, handed down in the high court in Pretoria last July.
Legodi dismissed Shuttleworth’s application to set aside the imposition of the levy he had to pay to get some of his assets out of the country in 2009.
He paid the levy under protest after moving R2,5bn of his capital to the Isle of Man, where he lives, according to the report.
Jeremy Gauntlett, for the Reserve Bank, argued the levy was not an impermissible exercise of fiscal power, but meant to control capital outflows and promote macro-economic growth after the global financial instability of 2008, according to the report.
Shuttleworth succeeded in the high court in Pretoria in having some parts of the Currency and Exchange Act declared unconstitutional. However, he failed to have the entire exchange control regulations declared inconsistent with the constitution and invalid. — Sapa