Dr. Albertus Marais
Partner: Disputes & International tax
BAcc.LLB, PGDA, Advanced Certificate in Tax (cum laude), MCom (Taxation), LLD, CA(SA), Advocate of the High Court of South Africa (non-practising), Chartered Tax Adviser
Albertus is a Director at AJM, specialising in Disputes and International Tax. After attaining the BAcc.LLB degree at Stellenbosch University, Albertus continued his postgraduate studies at the Universities of Cape Town, Pretoria and Stellenbosch, whereafter he joined PwC’s Corporate and International Tax team. He was then appointed by the Wiese family’s Titan Group as its Head of Tax, whereafter he joined AJM. During this period, he also gained experience as a listed company board member.
Albertus holds a Doctor of Laws qualification, is a Chartered Accountant, an advocate of the High Court of South Africa, a Chartered Tax Adviser with SAIT and an adjunct senior lecturer at UCT’s Law Faculty.
As a tax consultant, he considers it important to remain academically involved and, in pursuance of this, regularly publishes articles in academic journals. He has lectured at Stellenbosch University’s MAcc (Tax) course in corporate restructures and tax avoidance since 2014 while also reviewing dissertations for the University of Cape Town. Albertus has also been involved as a peer reviewer for several publications, including the South African Law Journal, the Tydskrif vir Hedendaagse Romeins-Hollandse Reg, De Jure, and Stellenbosch Law Review.
Albertus was the inaugural chair of the “Young IFA Network” (South Africa), a role which he recently relinquished to serve as an elected member of the South African branch of the International Fiscal Association (IFA). Until recently, Albertus was a member of the Central IFA’s Permanent Scientific Committee.
In November 2022, Albertus was appointed by the President of the Republic of South Africa to the Tax Court Bench.
De wet de villiers
Partner: private clients
BAcc.LLB, MCom (Taxation), Advocate of the High Court of South Africa (non-practising), Chartered Tax Adviser
De Wet De Villiers currently occupies the position of partner at AJM for the Private Clients practice, which sees him focusing on deal advisory, group restructuring and the taxation of cross border interests of Private Clients.
Amongst other qualifications, he holds a BAcc.LLB degree from Stellenbosch University and is an admitted advocate of the High Court of South Africa (non-practising), registered Business Restructuring Professional, and registered Tax Practitioner. De Wet also currently serves as the Secretary-General for the South African branch of the International Fiscal Association. He is a Chartered Tax Adviser with SAIT.
Prior to joining the business, he worked at PwC’s corporate and international tax team in Cape Town as a Tax Consultant in 2011. In 2014, De Wet joined Imperial Logistics to head up its commercial and legal team with his main focus area being mergers and acquisitions into Africa.
Pieter janse van rensburg
Partner: SA direct & indirect tax
BAcc.LLB, HonsBCompt, MAcc, CA(SA), Advocate of the High Court of South Africa (non-practising), Certified Director, Chartered Tax Adviser
Pieter Janse van Rensburg is AJM’s SA Direct and Indirect Tax practice partner. Pieter holds the BAcc.LLB and MAcc (Taxation) degrees from Stellenbosch University and HonsBCompt from the University of South Africa.
He is an advocate of the High Court of South Africa (non-practising), holds the Chartered Accountant designation with the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants and is registered as a Chartered Tax Adviser with the South African Institute of Taxation.
Pieter completed his training and qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC. He spent several years in their corporate and international tax team in Cape Town. After public practice, Pieter was in commerce in the local divisions of Austrian-based Red Bull and the Italian Campari Group, where reporting, transfer pricing, and financial management were core to his role. Pieter previously held the Certified Director designation with the South African Institute of Directors and served as a non-executive director on the board of the South African Institute of Taxation, the largest Recognised Controlling Body for tax practitioners in South Africa.
He is a regular guest lecturer for the Taxation Masters programme at Stellenbosch University and in November 2022, Pieter was appointed by the President of the Republic of South Africa for a five-year term as member of the Tax Court bench.
Estian Haupt
Associate Director: SA Direct Tax
BCom (Law), LLB, MCom (Taxation), Advocate of the High Court of South Africa (non-practising), Chartered Tax Adviser
Estian Haupt holds the position of Director.
Amongst other qualifications, he holds a BCom (Law) and LLB degrees as well as an MCom (Taxation) degree from the Stellenbosch University. Estian is also an admitted advocate of the High Court of South Africa (non-practising).
Prior to joining the business, he was employed as a Tax and Legal consultant at Exceed Tax and Advisory Services. His responsibilities included tax consulting, drafting of trusts and wills, attending to deceased estates, and drafting of agreements. In 2016, he joined PwC’s Corporate and International Tax team, where he specialised in domestic and international tax and obtained experience in a wide range of industries with exposure to large multinational and listed entities.
Juanita van der merwe
Associate Director: Tax compliance
MCom (Taxation), HDip in Tax Procedural Law, BCom Hons in Taxation, Chartered Tax Adviser
Juanita van der Merwe heads up the Tax Compliance team, which sees her responsible for providing tax compliance services to the various clients of AJM, in the process ensuring that all their legal tax compliance obligations are timeously and accurately met.
Amongst other qualifications, she holds a BCom Honours (Taxation) degree and MCom degree in taxation from the University of Cape Town. She also completed an advanced certificate in taxation at the University of South Africa and the advanced HDip in Tax Procedural Law at the International Institute for Tax and Finance.
Prior to joining the business, Juanita worked at PwC’s tax compliance team in Stellenbosch as assistant tax compliance manager in 2007, where she provided assistance to other PwC offices. During this time, she provided income tax compliance services to individuals, trusts, and corporate clients within various industries. She has in-depth experience in tax administration and as tax practitioner she has developed strong working relationships with the various South Africa Revenue Service offices. During 2015, Juanita joined the Wiese family’s Titan Group tax team as the tax compliance manager and was primarily responsible for all the income tax compliance requirements of all their South African group entities.
Leonard Willemse
Director: SA Indirect Tax
CA(SA), BCom (Acc) Hons , MCom (Taxation), Chartered Tax Adviser
Leonard Willemse holds the position of Director within the SA Indirect Tax practice.
Leonard performed his articles with PwC in Stellenbosch and has 15 years’ post-articles tax consulting experience. He also lectured Tax at post-graduate level as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch for six years.
In terms of qualifications, he holds a BAcc and BAcc Honours degree, as well as an MCom (Taxation) degree, which he completed in 2010, from the University of Stellenbosch and is a Chartered Accountant (SA) (affiliated with SAICA). Leonard is a SAIT registered Chartered Tax Adviser.
Prior to joining the business, he was employed as a senior manager in the Mazars Tax Consulting department, having joined them in January 2015. He acted as the Indirect Tax Focus Group Leader for South Africa.
Leonard acts as Examiner for SAIT on Indirect Tax matters for the External Integrated Summative Assessment (EISA) Tax Professional Paper.
Bobby Wessels
Senior Manager: Corporate and International Tax
BAcc.LLB, Registered Tax Practitioner
Deoran Wessels, more commonly known as Bobby, holds the position of Senior Manager within AJM. His focus is currently on corporate income tax, international tax, and the taxation of expatriates (colloquially referred to as expat tax).
In terms of qualifications, he has obtained a BAcc.LLB degree from Stellenbosch University in 2019. Bobby is currently studying towards an LLM in International Taxation at the University of Cape Town.
Jacky Labuschaigne
Senior Manager: Disputes
BCom (Law), LLB, LLM (Tax Law), Attorney of the High Court of South Africa (practising), Master Tax Practitioner
Jacky Labuschaigne is a senior manager in the Disputes practice. She is responsible for managing the dispute procedures of the clients of AJM to both the tax board and the tax court.
Amongst other qualifications, she holds BCom (Law) and LLB degrees from Stellenbosch University and her LLM through the University of South Africa. She is an admitted attorney of the High Court (practising).
Prior to joining the business, Jacky practised as an attorney specialising in High Court litigation. During this time, she gained extensive experience working on various high-profile matters, mainly in Commercial and Insolvency Law.
Megan Landers
Manager: Cross Border
BAcc.LLB, BCom Hons in Taxation, MCom in International Taxation, Advocate of the High Court of South Africa (non-practising), Chartered Tax Advisor.
Megan Landers is a senior manager within the International Tax Practice, focusing on international tax consulting services, Taxation of expatriates and South African exchange control matters. Megan also assists with tax compliance matters, handling disputes and dealing with general correspondence with South African Revenue Service.
In terms of qualifications, she holds a BAcc.LLB degree from Stellenbosch University, a BCom Honours degree in Taxation and MCom degree in International Taxation from the University of Cape Town. Before joining AJM, Megan commenced her two-year internship within PwC’s Tax Academy in 2012. After successfully completing this programme, she joined PwC’s corporate and international tax team in Cape Town as a Tax Consultant. During this time, Megan provided income tax compliance and consulting services to local and international corporate clients within the financial services, media and entertainment industries. She also assisted with the setup and registration of public benefit organisations. In 2017, Megan joined British American Tobacco South Africa’s direct tax team as an assistant corporate finance manager. She was primarily responsible for the corporate tax compliance and reporting of all South African group entities, staying abreast of tax legislation, and advising the various business units.
Megan is an admitted advocate of the High Court of South Africa (non-practising).
Bobby Wessels
Senior Manager: Corporate and International Tax
BAcc.LLB, Registered Tax Practitioner
Jacky Labuschaigne
Senior Manager: Disputes
BCom (Law), LLB, LLM (Tax Law), Attorney of the High Court of South Africa (practising), Master Tax Practitioner
Megan Landers
Senior Manager: Cross Border
BAcc.LLB, BCom Hons in Taxation, MCom in International Taxation, Advocate of the High Court of South Africa (non-practising), Chartered Tax Advisor.
Deoran Wessels, more commonly known as Bobby, holds the position of Senior Manager within AJM. His focus is currently on corporate income tax, international tax, and the taxation of expatriates (colloquially referred to as expat tax).
In terms of qualifications, he has obtained a BAcc.LLB degree from Stellenbosch University in 2019. Bobby is currently studying towards an LLM in International Taxation at the University of Cape Town.
Jacky Labuschaigne is a senior manager in the Disputes practice. She is responsible for managing the dispute procedures of the clients of AJM to both the tax board and the tax court.
Amongst other qualifications, she holds BCom (Law) and LLB degrees from Stellenbosch University and her LLM through the University of South Africa. She is an admitted attorney of the High Court (practising).
Prior to joining the business, Jacky practised as an attorney specialising in High Court litigation. During this time, she gained extensive experience working on various high-profile matters, mainly in Commercial and Insolvency Law.
Megan Landers is a senior manager within the International Tax Practice, focusing on international tax consulting services, Taxation of expatriates and South African exchange control matters. Megan also assists with tax compliance matters, handling disputes and dealing with general correspondence with South African Revenue Service.
In terms of qualifications, she holds a BAcc.LLB degree from Stellenbosch University, a BCom Honours degree in Taxation and MCom degree in International Taxation from the University of Cape Town. Before joining AJM, Megan commenced her two-year internship within PwC’s Tax Academy in 2012. After successfully completing this programme, she joined PwC’s corporate and international tax team in Cape Town as a Tax Consultant. During this time, Megan provided income tax compliance and consulting services to local and international corporate clients within the financial services, media and entertainment industries. She also assisted with the setup and registration of public benefit organisations. In 2017, Megan joined British American Tobacco South Africa’s direct tax team as an assistant corporate finance manager. She was primarily responsible for the corporate tax compliance and reporting of all South African group entities, staying abreast of tax legislation, and advising the various business units.
Megan is an admitted advocate of the High Court of South Africa (non-practising).
ANGELIQUE STRONKHORST
Senior Associate
BAcc.LLB
Angelique Stronkhorst holds the position of senior associate at the business.
She obtained her BAcc.LLB degree from Stellenbosch University in 2021 and joined AJM in January 2022. She recently completed her Master’s in South African Taxation at the University of Cape Town, achieving an overall mark of 74%. During her studies, she was adjudicated by the Department of Commerce as the top tax student in the MCom Taxation coursework component, passing her first year cum laude.
Angelique successfully completed her SAIT tax articles and passed the External Integrated Summative Assessment (EISA) Tax Professional Exam in September 2024. Angelique is a SAIT registered tax practitioner with a primary focus on corporate taxation.
Bradley Zebert
Senior Associate
B.Soc.Sci (Philosophy and Law), LLB (cum laude), LLM (International Taxation), Attorney of the High Court of South Africa (non-practising), Registered Tax Practitioner
Bradley Zebert holds the position of senior associate within AJM, focusing on corporate income tax and international tax.
He has obtained a B.Soc.Sci (Philosophy and Law), LLB (cum laude), as well as an LLM (International Taxation) from the University of Cape Town.
Prior to joining the business, he completed his legal articles to become an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa (practicing) and thereafter worked as an international tax consultant in Stellenbosch.
Amongst other achievements, he won the IBFD-UCT award for the best thesis on a topic of international tax in 2022, which was subsequently converted and published in the Bulletin for International Taxation.
JANÉL King
Senior Associate
BAcc(Hons), LLB, CA(SA)
Janél completed her bachelor’s and honours degrees in accounting at Stellenbosch University in 2020, after which she completed her chartered accounting articles at Ernst and Young in Cape Town. Janél also completed her LLB degree at the University of South Africa in 2021.
She is currently in the final stages of her Master’s in taxation through the University of South Africa.
Janél holds the position of senior associate within AJM, focusing on corporate income tax, international tax, Registered Tax Practitioner, and the taxation of expatriates (colloquially referred to as expat tax). She also assists with tax compliance matters, such as disputes and dealing with general correspondence with South African Revenue Service.
Dylan Taylor
Associate
BAcc.LLB
Marco Claassen holds the position of senior associate within AJM, focussing on corporate income tax, deal advisory and the implementation of transactions.
He obtained his Bachelor of Accounting and Laws (BAccLLB) degree at the University of Stellenbosch at the end of 2020.
Prior to joining AJM, Marco completed his practical vocational training (articles) at a reputable national law firm after which he was retained as an associate attorney in the corporate, commercial and tax departments of the said law firm.
Marco has experience in corporate structuring and restructurings, the negotiation of commercial deals, drafting of commercial agreements, and constitutional documents, and the provision of tax advice.
Marco is a registered tax practitioner and an admitted Attorney of the High Court of South Africa.
ANGELIQUE STRONKHORST
Bradley Zebert
Janél KING
Dylan Taylor
Senior Associate
BAcc.LLB
Senior Associate
B.Soc.Sci (Philosophy and Law), LLB (cum laude), LLM (International Taxation), Attorney of the High Court of South Africa (non-practising), Registered Tax Practitioner
Senior Associate
BAcc(Hons), LLB, CA(SA)
Associate
BAcc.LLB
Angelique Stronkhorst holds the position of senior associate at the business.
She obtained her BAcc.LLB degree from Stellenbosch University in 2021 and joined AJM in January 2022. She recently completed her Master’s in South African Taxation at the University of Cape Town, achieving an overall mark of 74%. During her studies, she was adjudicated by the Department of Commerce as the top tax student in the MCom Taxation coursework component, passing her first year cum laude.
Angelique successfully completed her SAIT tax articles and passed the External Integrated Summative Assessment (EISA) Tax Professional Exam in September 2024. Angelique is a SAIT registered tax practitioner with a primary focus on corporate taxation.
Bradley Zebert holds the position of senior associate within AJM, focusing on corporate income tax and international tax.
He has obtained a B.Soc.Sci (Philosophy and Law), LLB (cum laude), as well as an LLM (International Taxation) from the University of Cape Town.
Prior to joining the business, he completed his legal articles to become an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa (practicing) and thereafter worked as an international tax consultant in Stellenbosch.
Amongst other achievements, he won the IBFD-UCT award for the best thesis on a topic of international tax in 2022, which was subsequently converted and published in the Bulletin for International Taxation.
Janél completed her bachelor’s and honours degrees in accounting at Stellenbosch University in 2020, after which she completed her chartered accounting articles at Ernst and Young in Cape Town. Janél also completed her LLB degree at the University of South Africa in 2021.
She is currently in the final stages of her Master’s in taxation through the University of South Africa.
Janél holds the position of senior associate within AJM, focusing on corporate income tax, international tax, Registered Tax Practitioner, and the taxation of expatriates (colloquially referred to as expat tax). She also assists with tax compliance matters, such as disputes and dealing with general correspondence with South African Revenue Service.
Marco Claassen holds the position of senior associate within AJM, focussing on corporate income tax, deal advisory and the implementation of transactions.
He obtained his Bachelor of Accounting and Laws (BAccLLB) degree at the University of Stellenbosch at the end of 2020.
Prior to joining AJM, Marco completed his practical vocational training (articles) at a reputable national law firm after which he was retained as an associate attorney in the corporate, commercial and tax departments of the said law firm.
Marco has experience in corporate structuring and restructurings, the negotiation of commercial deals, drafting of commercial agreements, and constitutional documents, and the provision of tax advice.
Marco is a registered tax practitioner and an admitted Attorney of the High Court of South Africa.
Dawid Oosthuizen
Associate
BCom (Law), LLB
Dawid earned a BCom (Law) degree in 2021 and a LLB degree in 2023 from Stellenbosch University. He recently completed his LLM at the same institution. During his time at university, he held leadership roles as the Primarius of Vesta PSO and served on the Prim Committee.
Dawid has a keen interest in corporate income tax and international taxation, with a particular emphasis on the taxation of trusts, corporate structuring, and trust law.
Cindy Spannenberg
TAX COMPLIANCE ASSISTANT
BA Hons
Cindy Spannenberg holds the position of tax compliance assistant. In this position, Cindy works closely with Lauren and Juanita to provide administrative assistance with all tax compliance matters.
She obtained a BA degree in 2016 and a BA honours degree in 2017 from the University of Western Cape. She has been part of the tax compliance team for just over a year and is currently pursuing her studies in this area.
LAUREN LEE MATTHEWS
ASSISTANT: TAX COMPLIANCE
BA
Lauren Lee Matthews holds the position of tax compliance assistant. In this position, Lauren works closely with Juanita and provides administrative assistance with all tax compliance matters.
She obtained a BA degree from the University of Western Cape in 2019, and wants to pursue her studies in this area.
Dawid Oosthuizen
Associate
BCom (Law), LLB
Cindy Spannenberg
Tax Compliance Assistant
BA Hons
LAUREN LEE MATTHEWS
Tax Compliance Assistant
BA
Dawid earned a BCom (Law) degree in 2021 and a LLB degree in 2023 from Stellenbosch University. He recently completed his LLM at the same institution. During his time at university, he held leadership roles as the Primarius of Vesta PSO and served on the Prim Committee.
Dawid has a keen interest in corporate income tax and international taxation, with a particular emphasis on the taxation of trusts, corporate structuring, and trust law.
Cindy Spannenberg holds the position of tax compliance assistant. In this position, Cindy works closely with Lauren and Juanita to provide administrative assistance with all tax compliance matters.
She obtained a BA degree in 2016 and a BA honours degree in 2017 from the University of Western Cape. She has been part of the tax compliance team for just over a year and is currently pursuing her studies in this area.
Lauren Lee Matthews holds the position of tax compliance assistant. In this position, Lauren works closely with Juanita and provides administrative assistance with all tax compliance matters.
She obtained a BA degree from the University of Western Cape in 2019, and wants to pursue her studies in this area.