Sars needs R2 billion to fix ailing IT system
In bizarre testimony, chief IT officer insists colleagues are resisting change
SA REVENUE Service (Sars) chief IT officer Mmamathe Makhekhe-Mokhuane has admitted that Sars would need more than R2.16bn to fix its IT infrastructure over the next five years.
During her testimony before the Nugent Commission of Inquiry yesterday, Makheka-Mokhuane who at times failed to answer the questions posed to her or gave bizarre analogies in response, said the lack of implementation of the Sars IT strategy was because of the huge budget cut suffered by her unit to maintain the system.
She said the Sars IT structure was not aligned to its strategy.
“In January, I asked for a budget of R377million to fix the IT troubles of ageing infrastructure. I experienced a huge budget cut. I was given R88m only to deliver IT services. We still have to make provision for the structure to be put in place.” she said.
Makhekhe-Mokhuane was adamant that more funding would quickly resolve the Sars’ IT problems.
She blamed the revenue authority’s IT troubles, including the imminent collapse of the e-filing system, on “male colleagues” who were allegedly still loyal to Pravin Gordhan’s modernisation programme.
Makhekhe-Mokhuane made the veiled attack against her male counterparts while testifying before the commission tasked with probing administration and governance at Sars after the appointment of now-suspended commissioner Tom Moyane in September 2014.
Prior to her testimony before the inquiry, Makhekhe-Mokhuane caused a stir on social media after she appeared on SABC’s Morning Live show and struggled to answer questions about Sars’s IT and e-filing infrastructure.
Responding to a question on what needed to be done to fix the tax collector’s infrastructure, Makhekhe-Mokhuane told SABC’s Sakina Kamwendo: “Ma-am, can you give me protection from yourself?”
Makhekhe-Mokhuane, who joined Sars in May 2017, testified that Sars had an IT strategy that was implemented by the controversial international advisory IT company Gartner in 2015.
She added that some of her officials were “resisting the new Sars IT strategy” as they were “opposed to new ideas and technology”.
“They highly regarded the past modernisation IT strategy. They still have that imaginary beauty. It told them you’d no longer be as beautiful as you were 20 years ago,” Makhekhe-Mokhuane said.
She said some of these officials who had a good understanding of the modernisation programme “still wanted to be micromanaged”.
Her testimony continued to raise eyebrows. When asked about the long service of Sars employees, she said: “It is just like the Drakensberg Boys – it was formed in 1967 and years later, in 2018, women are still not allowed to join the choir.”
She gave the impression that Sars’s IT troubles would be short-lived if Sars considered recruiting more staff “who are seasoned enough” in the realm of new technology.
Makhekhe-Mokhuane also said there had been resistance to a new “internationally acclaimed system which needs futuristic and forward-looking IT personnel.
“Blockchain is not a choice. Sars is obliged to take up new technology. We cannot close the door to the rest of the world,” she said.
Earlier, in the TV interview, Makhekhe-Mokhuane also launched an attack on former colleagues, especially IT executive Andre Rabie, who had testified that Sars needed more than R1 billion to fix its infrastructure programme.
Rabie had said the e-filing system had been operating at 20% of capacity since 2014 and was likely to collapse by 2020 due to poor maintenance.
Makhekhe-Mokhuane denied the claim and said the e-filing system was operating at 99.7%.
Later, Sars issued a media statement which condemned the testimony of Rabie and former employee Andre Scheepers that the IT system was on the verge of collapse.
In the statement, Sars said the perception created that the e-filing system was “on the verge of collapse is incorrect, and unfortunately has the effect of creating unnecessary alarm and uncertainty”.
“Sars would like to assure taxpayers that the Sars e-filing system is stable and performing well within specification, as evidenced by the system’s uptime at a rate of 99.7%,” the statement read.
The hearing continues.