Moyane does a flip-flop and sets attorney on the warpath
EMBATTLED South African Revenue Service commissioner Tom Moyane yesterday flip-flopped on his earlier undertaking to take the country into his confidence about “current matters”, as allegations of bad governance mount against him. Instead, Moyane’s attorney Eric Mabuza went on a spirited attack on Moyane’s detractors, with Moyane sitting silently beside him. Earlier Mabuza sent out a media alert that “Moyane will host a press conference to brief the public about the latest developments in the current matters dealing with his current term of office at Sars”. However, Mabuza said the statement merely meant that Moyane would only host the media briefing and that he would be the one reading out a prepared statement and fielding questions. Mabuza told the media that President Cyril Ramaphosa had subjected Moyane to an unfair process and this would harm tax collection. Mabuza also accused the office of the president of leaking information to “embedded journalists” to tarnish Moyane’s image. The tit-for-tat exchange between Moyane and Ramaphosa has gone on unabated for the past three months, after Ramaphosa suspended Moyane. Moyane drew first blood in May when retired judge Kate O’Regan recused herself as head of an inquiry into the disciplinary charges against the embattled tax boss after he registered his displeasure with her determining his fate. Moyane has also called for either his disciplinary hearing or the Sars inquiry to be halted as he deemed the parallel process to be unfair on him. However, in a scathing ruling last week, former judge Robert Nugent, who chairs the inquiry, described Moyane’s application to stop the commission’s proceedings as a disgrace, abusive, invective and sinister. He said the inquiry would go ahead as it was established by a presidential proclamation. The Minister of Finance, Nhlanhla Nene, last month reappointed Mark Kingon as acting commissioner of Sars for a further 90 days, which began on June 17. Kingon has swiftly gone about reviving enforcement units to tackle the “illicit economy”.