President intensifies clean-up drive
Steps taken to address issues at SARS and SOEs
In his latest move to clean up law-enforcement agencies‚ President Cyril Ramaphosa has established a commission of inquiry to investigate governance issues at the SA Revenue Service (SARS).
The president made the announcement in the National Assembly yesterday during the 2018/19 budget vote.
“The stabilisation of the SARS has received priority attention‚ I have today signed a proclamation establishing a commission of inquiry into tax administration and governance chaired by former judge Robert Nugent and assisted by Mr Michael Katz‚ advocate Mabongi Masilo and Mr Vuyo Khahla‚” Ramaphosa said.
“The terms of reference will be gazetted in the coming days. We have also taken steps to address the leadership challenges at SARS‚ including the suspension of the commis- sioner [Tom Moyane]‚ the initiation of a process [against Moyane] and the appointment of an acting commissioner.”
Ramaphosa also said he was still in the process of setting up a panel of security experts who would conduct a comprehensive review of governance issues at the State Security Agency after reports emerged that it had been plagued by serious allegations of financial mismanagement‚ corruption and abuse of power for years.
He told MPs that the cabinet was supportive of his idea of instituting a presidential stateowned enterprise council to tighten oversight on the publicly owned firms that had been embroiled in scandals‚ financial mismanagement and other governance failures.
“We’re also encouraged by the activism of parliament‚ which is demanding accountability and exposing impropriety. Cabinet has agreed on the establishment of the presidential state-owned enterprise council which will usher in a new era in the management of our SOCs [state-owned companies],” he said.
“Half the members will consist of ministers while the others will be people from business‚ some of them will be experts and various other stakeholders. By bringing expertise from outside government and by ensuring the attendance of CEOs of some of these companies‚ we will be empowering the various shareholder ministers to ensure all strategic SOEs [state-owned enterprises] play an effective role in expanding the capacity and potential of our economy.”
He also announced that he has decided to donate half of his annual presidential salary (R3.6-million) to a fund managed by the Nelson Mandela Foundation. “This is a privatecitizen-driven initiative that will ask all those with the means to contribute a small portion of their salaries to support the many projects to build a nation.
“This fund will be launched on July 18 and will be called the Nelson Mandela Thuma Mina Fund.” –