Kieswetter, who was supported at the ceremony by family, colleagues and incoming SARS commissioner Dr Johnstone Makhubu, said he was proud to hand over a stronger institution.
Image: Iviwe Tom
The Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) conferred an honorary doctorate on outgoing South African Revenue Service commissioner Edward Kieswetter during its Autumn Graduation ceremony on Friday, April 17, recognising his distinguished career and longstanding ties to the institution where he first studied.
Kieswetter, a CPUT alumnus, described the moment as "full circle", reflecting on his journey from a young apprentice at the former Peninsula Technikon to leading one of the country’s key institutions.
"I started here as a young man trying to get his start in life. It is ironic that it is the impact of the work that I have done over these past decades that brings me back now," he said.
The Autumn graduation series, which saw more than 9,200 students capped, is the largest of its kind in the Western Cape, with university leadership highlighting Kieswetter’s career as an example of the impact of a technikon education.
"I came to Peninsula Technikon as an apprentice in 1978. That turned out to be one of the greatest gifts in my life because this institution taught me that theory must connect to application," Kieswetter said.
"I walked these grounds back then with remarkable people who expanded my sense of what was possible."
He told graduates that his career, spanning engineering, finance, power generation and government, was not carefully planned, but shaped by a desire to solve meaningful problems.
"I never set out to have a varied career… I then set out to solve problems that mattered," he said.
"What I discovered is that the skills required to turn around a struggling power station are not fundamentally different from those required to rebuild a revenue authority."
Kieswetter urged graduates to look beyond qualifications and focus on the broader systems they will work within.
"Institutions matter. Become a student of institutions, not just of your discipline. Your degree gives you a credential - what you do with curiosity, courage, and commitment gives you a career," he said.
Reflecting on his time at CPUT, he said the practical, application-focused approach to learning shaped his outlook.
"What I took from those years was not just a qualification; it was a disposition, the habit of asking not only ‘what’ but also ‘how’, and not only how but ‘so what’. That disposition has served me in every role I have held."
He also used the platform to speak about leadership, drawing on his tenure at SARS following the damage caused by state capture.
"When I returned to SARS in 2019, the institution had been deeply damaged…what restored public confidence was consistent and verifiable delivery, month after month and year after year," he said.
"Leadership is measured not by the authority you hold, but by the change you leave behind."
Kieswetter, a CPUT alumnus, described the moment as “full circle”, reflecting on his journey from a young apprentice at the former Peninsula Technikon to leading one of the country’s key institutions.
Image: Iviwe Tom
Kieswetter said he would use his post-retirement phase to focus on institutional rebuilding, including launching a company and a “solutions laboratory” aimed at helping organisations improve delivery and integrity.
"This is a new chapter rather than a retirement… South Africa still has many problems that require fixing," he said.
In his closing remarks to the Class of 2026, he called on graduates to take an active role in shaping the country’s future.
"You are graduating into a South Africa that needs you desperately, not eventually, but now," he said.
"The question that will define your life is not ‘what did you achieve for yourself?’ but ‘what did you build that will outlast you?’"
Kieswetter, who was supported at the ceremony by family, colleagues and incoming SARS commissioner Dr Johnstone Makhubu, said he was proud to hand over a stronger institution.
"The best leaders work themselves out of a job. I am proud to hand over an institution which is better today than when I received it," he said.
"I receive this honorary doctorate on behalf of all the young people on the Cape Flats and beyond who have had limits set on their lives."
lilita.gcwabe@inl.co.za