Pretoria - South African Revenue Service (Sars) Commissioner Tom Moyane hit back at suggestions by Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan that the R30 billion tax proposals to fill the revenue gap could be blamed on Sars’ poor performance.
“In fact, such utterances by a person as senior as the minister of finance poses serious challenges to the overall credibility and, hence, effectiveness of Sars as an institution,” Moyane said.
He was speaking during a media briefing at the Sars offices in Brooklyn where he also addressed the increasingly strained relationship the two have.
Moyane said that in the latest incident between himself and Gordhan, the minister refused to shake his hand. He urged President Jacob Zuma to intervene.
The press briefing was intended to discuss the Budget speech Gordhan made earlier this week.
“My request to the president is that he must intervene or bring an independent judge so we can bring sanity to the two institutions which are very important in this country,” Moyane said.
He added that Gordhan, during meetings, screamed and shouted at him and treated him like a “nonentity”.
He said he had raised these problems with the minister on various occasions in letters and that he wanted to sit down and thrash out their problems.
“In the interest of South Africa, and in particular Sars, I am willing to engage with the minister with or without the intervention of a third party in order to resolve whatever personal and/or professional differences that may exist.”
It is said Moyane was the one who opened a case against Gordhan last year in relation to a “rogue unit” which allegedly operated when Gordhan was still the Sars commissioner. “I did not open a case against minister Gordhan. That is a misplaced narrative. I never mentioned the minister’s name; you can ask the Hawks and you can ask the police. Any suggestion otherwise are lies,” Moyane said.
He revealed that he was accused by Gordhan during a meeting that he was serving “a particular family”, although he refused to mention the name of this family he is alleged to be in cahoots with.
The commissioner said he wanted to dispel any myth that Sars had a leadership crisis. He added that he had earned his stripes, and so had his team.
He said Gordhan said during his speech on Wednesday that Sars needed to bring in R1.1 trillion. “I believe that I have a team that is capable of doing this.”