Ramaphosa boots out Tom Moyane

Cites ‘reckless mismanagement’ on his watch

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has fired Tom Moyane as SA Revenue Service (Sars) commissioner.

“This follows the recommendation made by the Sars Commission chaired by Judge Robert Nugent, that immediate action is needed to forestall any further deterioration of our tax administration system,” the Presidency said last night.

Nugent recommended in an interim report that Ramaphosa fire Moyane.

Ramaphosa gave Moyane until October 26 to give reasons why he should not be fired and Moyane duly obliged.

Moyane then tried to turn the tables on Ramaphosa, sending the president a letter in which he asked him to reject a recommendation that he be fired.

In a letter sent to Moyane yesterday, Ramaphosa told him, “the interim report of the Nugent Commission paints a deeply concerning picture of the state of Sars and the reckless mismanagement which characterised your tenure as commissioner of Sars”.

“Of further, and in many ways greater, concern is your refusal to meaningfully participate in the Sars Commission in order to assist with identifying the root causes of the systemic failures at Sars and ways in which to arrest these,” Ramaphosa said.

According to the statement: “President Ramaphosa also indicated in his letter that the representations submitted by Mr Moyane in response to the recommendations of the Nugent Commission fail entirely to deal with the substantive issues the report raises.”

In his letter, Ramaphosa told Moyane: “The interim report makes clear that there is considerable evidence, which the Sars Commission gathered, indicating that in order to resolve the challenges at Sars, it would be best to terminate your services,” he said.

In his letter to Ramaphosa, in which he gave him until November 9 to respond, Moyane asked the president to reject Nugent’s recommendation.

“The grounds for the proposed rejection of the said recommendations include the fact that they fall outside the terms of reference of the Sars Commission and are accordingly ultra vires and irrational; are also irrational in the sense of being illogical and self-contradictory; are unreasonable in the circumstances; are unfair in the constitutional sense; are tainted by bias; and constitute a thinly-veiled attempt to campaign for the permanent appointment of Mr Mark Kingon who is the acting commissioner of Sars,” the letter states.

Moyane in the letter said the terms of reference of the Sars Commission did not include employment issues of individuals “and specifically exclude the employment or dismissal of commissioner Moyane which the president consciously delegated to the disciplinary inquiry chaired by advocate Azhar Bham SC.

“The disciplinary inquiry is ongoing. Mr Nugent and his assistants have therefore exceeded their delegated authority and unlawfully encroached the terrain of the disciplinary inquiry, thereby undermining both the president and advocate Bham SC and usurping their functions.”

The Presidency said the acting commissioner of Sars, Kingon, remained in place until such time as the vacancy of national commissioner was filled.