How Moyane damaged the SA Revenue Service

WHILE the World Bank, International Monitory Fund (IMF) and investors worried about huge tax revenue losses in South Africa – revenue authority boss Tom Moyane was apparently preoccupied with nailing an alleged rogue unit in his office.

These were the testimonies of two Cabinet ministers, Nhlanhla Nene and Malusi Gigaba, before the Nugent Commission in Pretoria yesterday. The commission, chaired by retired Judge Robert Nugent, is probing tax administration and governance in Sars when Moyane,

pictured, was Sars commissioner. While South Africa experienced a revenue tax shortfall of more than R50 billion – Sars was not “paying adequate attention to closing the tax gap”, said Nene.

“I took the commissioner to meetings with the World Bank, IMF and rating agencies in New York, Boston and Washington, where they raised the same issues. We had no capacity to deal with the illicit economy.

“It was for that reason that I proposed to the former president, Jacob Zuma, to set up a judicial commission of inquiry into Sars,” Gigaba said. He said he expressed the same sentiments to incumbent President Cyril Ramaphosa, who acted promptly and appointed the Nugent Commission in May.