Moyane’s case kicked out of Concourt
THE Constitutional Court has thrown out former South African Revenue Services (Sars) commissioner Tom Moyane’s bid for direct access, telling him that he had to fight his battle with President Cyril Ramaphosa in the High Court first.
The ConCourt judges, including Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng yesterday ruled that Moyane had failed to convince them that his challenge to his dismissal on November 1, could be heard in the apex court.
In their ruling, the judges said they had “considered this application, the answering affidavit and replying affidavit of Moyane and the affidavits of Mr Eric Mabuza (Moyane’s lawyer) and former president Zuma filed in support of this application and decided to dismiss the application because grounds for the engagement of its exclusive jurisdiction have not been established”.
“Nor has the basis been laid for direct access in view of the fact that Moyane has other avenues available,” Justice Mogoeng said.
He dismissed Moyane’s application but did not make a cost order against him.
Reacting to the ruling, Mabuza said, “its (ConCourt) ruling changes nothing”. “We had initially applied to the High Court in Pretoria to set aside the findings of the Nugent Commission, including the decision of the president to fire Mr Moyane. We subsequently went to the Constitutional Court to seek an interim order to set aside his dismissal. “Now the ConCourt has found that Mr Moyane has other avenues to challenge the decision.
“The ConCourt ruling does not change anything. We will continue to pursue the case in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria,” Mabuza said.
Yesterday, Mabuza confirmed that Moyane would now wait for the High Court in Pretoria to set the matter down for argument.
Early this month, Moyane approached the ConCourt asking for an interim order to set aside Ramaphosa’s decision to fire him on November 1, pending their main application in the High Court to declare proceedings at the Nugent Commission unlawful and unconstitutional.
The Nugent Commission – chaired by retired Judge Robert Nugent – was tasked to probe governance and administration at Sars while Moyane was at the helm since September 2014. It was set up in May this year and on September 27, Judge Nugent recommended to President Ramaphosa that he fire Moyane.
In his recommendation, Judge Nugent told Ramaphosa that Moyane had refused to co-operate with the commission despite numerous requests to him to appear before it.
“From inception the current commissioner of Sars, Mr Tom Moyane, has remained in the shadows, emerging to attend the commission’s public hearings for a few hours on one occasion only, and then only to disparage and attempt to derail the commission.
“What occurred on that occasion is related to the reasons given by the commission for dismissing an application by Mr Moyane,” Judge Nugent said.
Judge Nugent said Moyane’s attorney was notified each time public hearings were held but neither Moyane nor any representative was present during those subsequent hearings.