Moyane failed in foolish bid
The country has been clamouring for change under President Cyril Ramaphosa. And, on the face of it, change has been slow.
But, Ramaphosa had a mighty big mess to clean up thanks to former president Jacob Zuma.
State-owned enterprises were in parlous state, corruption was widespread and local government, with very few exceptions, was in a state of collapse.
If Ramaphosa moves too quickly, he risks alienating essential allies and splintering a very fragile ANC. If he moves too slowly, he earns the wrath of the electorate.
His accomplishments so far may seem few and far between. But, like the tortoise in the race against the hare, he is moving slowly but surely.
Along the way, he has proved he will not suffer fools gladly like our suspended chief tax collector, Tom Moyane.
South Africa does not have a particularly efficient administration. But the one thing it appeared to get right for a long time was tax collection. It had staff with impressive skill sets and always outperformed forecast revenue collection. Tax refunds were efficient and prompt. Tax evaders were efficiently dealt with and their pockets were flushed of excess funds which poured into the fiscus.
But Moyane’s appointment in 2014 marked a change.
The brain drain in the face of his blatant determination to ruin that once shining institution was instantaneous. Some 40 managers reportedly resigned over a short period. Their positions either remained vacant or they were replaced by people with zero tax experience. The SARS executive was devoid of tax-related talent.
Using the fabricated rogue unit, he forced out what remained of the efficient old guard. Then Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s name was dragged through the mud along the way.
Investigations into politically connected individuals were buried and even the most blatant tax evasion was ignored. Moyane’s deputy Jonas Makwakwa was bust stuffing huge amounts of money into his accounts via various ATMs. For a long time, these actions were not investigated.
By February last year, there was a revenue shortfall of R30-billion, largely due to SARS’ underperformance. The institution had been gutted by Moyane. That shortfall grew to R48-million this year.
He was one of the first obstacles to efficient governance Ramaphosa seemed determined to remove. He took the reasonable and careful route of first suspending him. He offered him six months salary to quietly vanish back into the woodwork he crawled out of.
But an unrepentant Moyane hit back with the most absurd demands, confident that Ramaphosa would cave simply to be rid of him.
The president has not done so. The taxpayer will not foot Moyane’s legal bills, he will not be paid out for the remaining 18 months of his contract and the rules of his disciplinary hearing will not be changed to suit him. Moyane played what he thought would be his trump card and lost.