Moyane hits back at Gordhan
SARS commissioner Tom Moyane has hit back at suggestions by Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan that the R30 billion tax proposals to fill the revenue gap could be blamed on Sars’ poor performance.
“In fact, such utterances by a person as senior as the minister of finance poses serious challenges to the overall credibility, and hence effectiveness of Sars as an institution,” Moyane said.
He was speaking during a media briefing at the Sars offices in Brooklyn, Pretoria, where he also addressed the increasingly strained relationship the two have.
Moyane said that in the latest incident between himself and Gordhan, the minister refused to shake his hand.
He even pleaded with President Jacob Zuma to intervene.
The press briefing was intended to discuss Gordhan’s Budget speech.
“My request to the president is that he must intervene or bring an independent judge so we can bring sanity to the two institutions which are very important in this country,” Moyane said.
He said Gordhan, during meetings, screamed and shouted at him and treated him like a “nonentity”.
He had raised these problems with the minister in letters and that he wanted to sit down and thrash out their problems.
“In the interest of South Africa, and in particular Sars, I am willing to engage with the minister with or without the intervention of a third party in order to resolve whatever personal and/or professional differences that may exist.”
It is said Moyane was the one who opened a case against Gordhan last year in relation to a “rogue unit” which allegedly operated when Gordhan was still the Sars commissioner.
“I did not open a case against minister Gordhan. That is a misplaced narrative. I never mentioned the minister’s name… you can ask the Hawks and you can ask the police. Any suggestions otherwise are lies,” Moyane said.
He said he was accused by Gordhan during a meeting that he was serving a particular family, believed to be the Guptas, although he refused to mention the name of this family.
The commissioner said he wanted to demystify the narrative that Sars had a leadership crisis.
He said Gordhan had said during his Budget speech that Sars needed to bring in R1.1 trillion.
“That is a big task but I believe I have a team capable of doing this,” Moyane concluded.