Siyabonga Mkhwanazi
MPs have expressed frustration at the public spat between Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and SA Revenue Service (Sars) commissioner Tom Moyane, saying they were fed up with it.
The standing committee on finance, led by chairperson Yunus Carrim, called yesterday for the speedy resolution of the fight between the two.
President Jacob Zuma told Parliament in March that he was intervening in the dispute between Gordhan and Moyane. The two have been fighting over the restructuring of Sars.
Gordhan had ordered Moyane to halt the restructuring of the revenue service, but he apparently refused.
ANC MP Makhosi Khoza said the “cold war” between Gordhan and Moyane was not healthy. She said this was stressful for all members of the national legislature.
“The cold war that exists between the minister of finance and Sars is not healthy for all us,” she said.
DA MP Alf Lees also weighed in, saying since the president announced his intervention in March, there has been no movement.
“All of us are keen to see that the relationship is good and the impact on the economy goes away,” said Lees, adding that the interest of the country must come first.
National Treasury director-general Lungisa Fuzile later told the standing committee that members were fighting illicit financial outflows. At the recent G20 summit in Washington, US, this matter was discussed extensively, he said.
The summit was gaining global traction with many countries working on co-operating to track down individuals shifting money to safe heavens. South Africa was also working with its neighbouring states on this matter, said Fuzile.
A panel, led by former president Thabo Mbeki, tabled a report at the AU summit last year, estimating that $50 billion leaves the continent annually through illicit financial flows.
A total of $1 trillion is believed to have left the continent over the past 50 years.
The government, joining others globally, has been clamping down on this practice because it said it deprives the nation of due finances.