Moyane attempts to take Ramaphosa to court over Sars dismissal
The fired Sars commissioner wants both the inquiry and disciplinary process that led to his dismissal declared unlawful.
Tom Moyane, is seen during a press briefing held at the Sars offices where he disclosed to the media that SARS official, Jonas Makwakwa, had resigned with immediate effect, 14 March 2018, Pretoria. Picture: Jacques Nelles
Former Sars commissioner Tom Moyane has approached the Constitutional Court, filing an affidavit on Friday which sought to have both his disciplinary hearing and the decision by President Cyril Ramaphosa to set up the Nugent commission of inquiry into Sars declared unlawful, EWN reports.
According to Moyane’s attorney Eric Mabuza, the president will be expected to submit an affidavit responding to Moyane’s, the contents of which will determine their way forward legally.
Ramaphosa is expected to appoint a new Sars commissioner in the coming weeks.
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Parliament’s standing committee on finance said on Friday that Ramaphosa had no choice but to fire Moyane.
In a statement, the multi-party committee welcomed Moyane’s sacking.
Committee chairman Yunus Carrim said: “We feel that the president had no choice but to dismiss Mr Moyane given the almost unanimous views expressed at the Nugent commission that he had mismanaged Sars, the amount of revenue shortfall now emerging and the decisive and final proposal from the commission that he be dismissed.
“We found in our own experience of Mr Moyane’s management of the allegations against his colleagues, Mr Jonas Makwakwa and Ms Kerry-Ann Elskie, many inconsistencies and much evasion that reflected very badly on Sars. Sars’ failure to respond accurately to our concerns on this matter consumed a considerable amount of our time.”
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The committee said Ramaphosa needed to appoint Moyane’s replacement “as soon as reasonably possible”.
Ramaphosa gave Moyane his marching orders on Thursday, saying immediate action was needed to forestall any further deterioration of the country’s tax administration system.
In the interim Nugent report released on October 16, Nugent said it was clear that Moyane had no intention of engaging the commission, confronting the evidence mounting against him, or accounting for his conduct during his tenure.
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