About Mzansify
Open a typical South African tax calculator and the first thing it wants is your email. The second is your phone number. Somewhere down the page, eventually, is the answer to the question you actually came for.
Mzansify works the other way. You type your numbers and see the answer. There is no account to make, and the numbers you type stay in your browser: they are never sent to us.
Why it exists
Moritlha MadishaFounder of MzansifyLinkedInContact MoritlhaMy dream was born from something deeply personal: watching colleagues, friends, and family struggle to make financial decisions that would genuinely serve them and their families well.
Too often, people do not invest enough for their future or retirement. They choose medical aid, insurance, investment, and other financial products that are either too expensive for what they provide or simply do not suit their needs.
Many people also do not know enough about financial products to recognise when a recommendation may not be right for them. An adviser may earn an upfront commission, ongoing fees, or other compensation from a product they recommend. That does not necessarily mean the advice is bad, but people should understand how these incentives work.
My goal is to empower people to ask simple but important questions: Do I really need this product? Is it right for my needs? What alternatives are available? How much am I paying in fees? How much is my adviser earning, and what will these costs mean for my investment over time?
Most people do not ask these questions because they do not know that they can. Understanding things such as adviser fees, product costs, Total Expense Ratios, and the overall cost of an investment can help people make much better decisions.
I experienced the frustration of wanting to help family and friends make better financial decisions, while recognising how sensitive and personal those conversations can be. To give someone meaningful financial guidance, they often need to share private information about their income, debt, family, goals, medical cover, investments, and future plans.
That created a simple idea:
What if people could access this knowledge for themselves?
What if there were one trusted place where ordinary people could understand financial products, compare their options, learn what questions to ask, and make informed decisions without needing to understand complicated financial language?
Instead of having to personally advise a friend or family member, you could simply say, “Have a look here. It explains what you need to know and helps you understand your options.”
My dream is to empower people with the knowledge they need to make better financial decisions for themselves and their families.
It is about helping people understand retirement planning, medical aid, insurance, investing, tax, and other important financial decisions in language that makes sense.
It is about helping someone choose a medical aid that suits their family, understand whether their insurance will truly protect them, understand the real cost of an investment, and invest early enough to retire comfortably.
It is also about helping people understand how they can legally reduce their tax burden while building wealth through options such as retirement investments and other tax-efficient products.
Ultimately, my dream is simple: to make financial knowledge more accessible, understandable, and useful to ordinary people.
Not to make financial decisions for them, but to give them the knowledge to ask the right questions, understand what they are paying for, know what they actually need, and make informed choices for themselves and their families.
That has always been my dream. ~ Moritlha Madisha
What’s inside
53 calculators for tax, medical aid, property and debt, and savings and retirement, plus guides and a glossary that explain the terms behind them:
- TaxIncome tax and PAYE, medical credits, retirement contributions, capital gains, transfer duty, donations tax, small business and turnover tax, provisional tax, VAT, UIF and wear-and-tear. Each one works for the current tax year or an earlier one.
- Medical aidCompare schemes and plans side by side, filter by budget and family size, and estimate the GEMS subsidy if you qualify for it.
- Property and debtBond repayments, vehicle finance including NCA fees, personal loans and credit-card payoff.
- Savings and retirementTFSA limits, compound growth, retirement annuity deductions and lump-sum tax.
- Guides and a glossaryShort explainers, with sources, for the terms that show up on SARS letters.
If you are filing a return, start with income tax. If you are buying property, start with transfer duty. If you are switching medical aids, start with the comparison tool.
How it’s built
Mzansify was founded and is run by Moritlha Madisha.
Every calculator runs in your browser. No server does the calculation, so your salary, savings and debts are never sent anywhere. The site does use Google Analytics to see which pages get visited; the privacy page explains what it records.
The numbers come from primary sources: tax brackets from SARS and National Treasury, medical aid contributions from each scheme’s own published member guide, and NCA fees from Schedule 1 of the Act. A figure on the page can be traced back to its source document, and the methodology page lists each source.
Mzansify is independent. SARS, banks and brokers have no part in it. No scheme pays to appear in the comparison tool, and none can pay to rank higher.
Staying current
Tax numbers update in March after the February Budget Speech. Medical aid contributions update in January when schemes publish new rates. The prime rate updates after each MPC meeting. The methodology page documents where each number comes from and when it was last refreshed.
Spotted a mistake, or have a question? Use the contact form. It goes straight to the person who runs the site.
Not professional advice
Mzansify is a planning tool, not a substitute for a registered tax practitioner, financial advisor, or medical aid broker. For decisions you will act on, confirm the numbers with someone qualified to look at your full situation. See the full disclaimer for terms.