Parliament - Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan readily admitted that “issues” remained between National Treasury and the South African Revenue Service as SARS commissioner Tom Moyane failed to take his seat on the podium at the pre-budget press briefing.
“It is no secret that we have a set of issues to resolve with the institution,” Gordhan said when asked why Moyane did not sit with him, his deputy minister, director-general and the head of the Reserve Bank. However, he was at pains to point out that he retained full confidence in SARS's 14 000 employees.
“Let me say that I have absolute confidence in the 14 000 people who do the day-to-day work in SARS. I have worked with them, together we built a powerful institution and I know their commitment to ensuring that their work is not compromised in any way.” He added that he hoped he could announce a resolution of tensions in “a couple of weeks”.
Gordhan last year issued an extraordinary statement, while still minister of local government, angrily denying claims by Moyane that a rogue intelligence unit was set up at the revenue service on his watch. Gordhan headed SARS before serving as finance minister from 2009 to 2014 for the first time. He returned to the portfolio in December.
African News Agency (ANA)