Port Elizabeth - Former finance minister and senior African National Congress (ANC) member Trevor Manuel on Thursday slammed as racist and libellous an EFF statement in the name of Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, alleging among others nepotism in the appointment of the new SARS commissioner.
Saying he would not be abused by "schoolyard bullies", Manuel called for a complete retraction of three claims the statement made, including that he was related to the new commissioner, Edward Kieswetter, and that they had business ties.
"Mr Ndlozi needs to provide evidence for the three claims he makes about me," Manuel said.
"Only a mind warped into destruction by apartheid can ever suggest blood-ties between two individuals classified coloured by the apartheid regime, when the only connective tissue is racial classification. The onus now rests on Mr Ndlozi to prove the ties exist," Manuel said.
In a statement issued on Wednesday about the interview process for a new commissioner, Ndlozi called on president Cyril Ramaphosa and finance minister Tito Mboweni to disclose how the interview was run. Ndlozi called the process secretive and alluded to corruption and nepotism in the process.
Manuel also dismissed the accusation that he had appointed Kieswetter as the deputy commissioner of SARS during his term as finance minister.
"[Ndlozi] has claimed that I, as minister of finance at the time, appointed Mr Kieswetter as the SARS deputy commissioner. If he had read the SARS Act or the Nugent Commission Report, he might know that the minister of finance possesses no such powers. He has to retract this forthwith," Manuel said.
"What I demand is a retraction, or Mr Ndlozi will have to face legal action," Manuel said.