R30bn

The shortfall in tax revenue measured against the estimate in last year’s Budget

He has clashed openly with Sars commissioner Tom Moyane, who has driven a narrative that an illicit intelligence unit was set up within the revenue service on Gordhan’s watch.

It has led to a long-running investigation embroiling Gordhan that came to nothing.

Last year, fraud charges relating to the extension of a contract at Sars while Gordhan was commissioner were brought, but then rapidly shelved. Gordhan has dismissed it all as “political mischief”.

While it is tradition that the Sars commissioner is invited to sit at Gordhan’s flank when he addresses the media before his budget speech, Moyane was again absent yesterday. – ANA