Moyane blames media for dismissal
AXED SA Revenue Service boss Tom Moyane has blamed the media and alleged opponents of former president Jacob Zuma for being behind his dismissal.
Moyane said he had an unblemished four-year record as Sars commissioner, but was only dismissed in November because his appointment to the job was made by Zuma in September 2014.
All this is contained in Moyane’s latest application in the Constitutional Court to appeal against Judge Hans Fabricius’s ruling to endorse President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to fire him.
In the latest twist, Moyane, through his attorney Eric Mabuza, is now asking the ConCourt’s Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng for direct access to appeal against the decision of Judge Fabricius made 10 days ago.
Judge Fabricius, in dismissing a similar urgent application, ruled that Ramaphosa acted “rationally, lawfully and fairly” to fire Moyane because he wants to restore stability in the revenue authority.
In his affidavit, Mabuza said Judge Fabricius was not supposed to make such a finding.
He also argued that Judge Fabricius was wrong in endorsing the interim report of Judge Robert Nugent, which recommended the dismissal of Moyane.
He insists Moyane did nothing wrong – that his mistake was that his appointment was made by former president Jacob Zuma, which led to several people, including the media, hating him.
“An example of the intense media campaign referred to in the main application is a more recent self-congratulatory tweet by a journalist from the Daily Maverick publication, one Ms Pauli van Wyk, who recently boasted that she single-handedly wrote 47 articles which brought the applicant down, which articles are the cause of his dismissal and the establishment of the Sars Commission,” Mabuza said.
He said the accusers of Moyane will have, if direct access is granted, difficulty to pinpoint what conduct of Moyane was allegedly “calamitous”, “catastrophic” or “disastrous”, as Judge Nugent found.
He also challenged the ruling of Judge Fabricius that Moyane’s conduct in the urgent application was “reprehensible and abominable”.
Last month, the ConCourt dismissed a similar application by Moyane, but Mabuza remains hopeful that Mogoeng will consider their fresh attempt.
Presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko was not available for comment.