Sars versus Gordhan in Budget row

Tom Moyane seeks President’s help

SOUTH African Revenue Service (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, pose serious challenges to the overall credibility, and hence effectiveness of Sars as an institution,” Moyane said.

He was speaking during a hastily convened media briefing on the Budget at Sars in Pretoria where he also addressed the strained relationship the two have.

Moyane said in the latest incident, the minister had refused to shake his hand.

He said he had even pleaded with President Jacob Zuma to intervene.

“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.

Moyane said Gordhan, during meetings, screamed and shouted at him and treated him like a “nonentity”.

He said he had raised these problems with the finance minister on various occasions in letters and that he wanted to sit down and work through 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.”

Moyane has been accused of having opened a case against Gordhan last year in relation to a “rogue unit” which allegedly operated when Gordhan was still 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 suggestion otherwise are lies,” Moyane said.

He said at one meeting Gordhan had accused him of serving the interests of a particular family.

He refused to mention the name of this family, widely reputed to be Zuma’s close friends, the Guptas.

The commissioner said he wanted to demystify any claims that Sars had a leadership crisis, saying he had earned his stripes and so had his team and he took a dim view of any such suggestion..

He said Gordhan had said during his Budget speech on Wednesday that Sars needed to bring in R1.1 trillion.

“That is a big task but I believe that I have a team that is capable of doing this.”

Thomas Moyane