Gordhan’s jealous of me
Moyane takes case to ConCourt
Sars commissioner Tom Moyane has accused public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan of targeting him out of “envy and downright jealousy” because his tenure at the tax authority was “the most successful in the democratic era”.
Gordhan is the main witness in the misconduct inquiry into Moyane’s fitness to hold office, the legality of which he is disputing in the Constitutional Court.
He was also a key witness in the inquiry into tax administration headed by Judge Robert Nugent, who has written to Moyane’s lawyers that he will recommend to President Cyril Ramaphosa that he be fired “in the interest of Sars and the country”.
Moyane yesterday filed a 700-page application at the apex court, in which he seeks to challenge the legality of both the Nugent commission and the Bham inquiry into his fitness to hold office.
According to Moyane, Ramaphosa unlawfully “abdicated” his powers to make the case for his removal from office to Gordhan “who is further disqualified due to his conflict of interests”.
Moyane further says Gordhan wrongly believes he was the source of the “Rogue Unit” revelations that led to Gordhan facing an aborted fraud case.
In his application, Moyane details his various confrontations with Gordhan, which he says became increasingly hostile after his reappointment to replace Des van Rooyen.
Moyane has given the ConCourt a telephone recording of Gordhan admonishing him after Sars released a statement, saying it had “lost “all confidence [in] and respect” in Judge Dennis Davis who publicly questioned Sars operational capabilities last year.
Moyane states that, during that call, Gordhan “accused me of being disrespectful towards him and being “cheeky”; thinking I was, inter alios, God; attacking “judges”; being connected to the leadership of the Hawks and the NPA”.
In his ConCourt application, Moyane seeks to undermine any suggestion that his leadership caused the collapse of Sars, and insists that “my tenure at Sars was the most successful in the democratic era”.