PARLIAMENT – President Cyril Ramaphosa had no choice but to fire SA Revenue Service (Sars) boss Tom Moyane, Parliament standing committee on finance said on Friday.
In a statement, the multiparty committee welcomed Moyane's sacking.
"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," committee chairman Yunus Carrim said.
"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."
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.