Pretoria - Corruption and nepotism at the SA Revenue Service (Sars) will not only have administrative but also political implications, Nehawu's first deputy president Joe Mpisi said in Pretoria on Wednesday.
"We can't have people at Sars who are corrupt... we can't have inequalities in salaries when we are doing the same job," Mpisi said during at a protest march against salary discrepancies.
He said the issue of salaries was serious, and claimed there was a 30% gap between the salaries of white and black workers.
Workers had complained that Sars commissioner Oupa Magashule "brings no value to Sars" and that senior management earned exorbitant salaries compared to those of people on the ground.
"This can't be left unattended," said Mpisi.
Other issues contained in a memorandum workers handed over were procurement issues, nepotism and the victimisation of workers who exposed corruption.
Six National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) shopstewards were dismissed by Sars and the union wanted them to be reinstated.
Mpisi said while there were laws in the country to protect whistleblowers, nothing had stopped the employer's "intelligence structure" from firing these workers.
He said this structure within Sars also made sure that genuine cases taken up with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration were removed from the roll.
Mpisi called for a judicial commission of enquiry to intervene and investigate this "rot".
"The state, including the National Treasury, has the muscle to deal with this, not us. We are just workers."
Sars dismissed all the union's allegations as mischievous.
"They are a serious deviation from the truth. We reject the allegations by Nehawu as mischievous and misleading," said spokesperson Adrian Lackay.
While not giving much detail, Lackay said the six workers were suspended through proper and due process.
He said a meeting with Nehawu was underway with a view to resolving all pertinent issues.
A small group of workers gathered outside Sars at noon. Wearing Nehawu T-shirts, they sang struggle songs and held placards demanding "fair recruitment and selection".
Some placards read: "Away with corrupt managers", "Down with union bashing" and "Stop misuse of public funds".
A few members of the Nehawu's Tshwane and Ekurhuleni leadership addressed the workers.
They warned that no manager "driving big cars at worker's expenses, some without proper qualifications" was above the law and said they could be recalled.
The union gave management seven days to reply or face a full-blown strike which could lead to a complete lockdown at Sars.
Wednesday's action, workers said, was merely a picket.
"We reserve the right to come back and protest even if it means closure of all offices. Any worker who goes inside that day, they will remain inside."
Lackay said operations at Sars were not affected in any way on Wednesday.
"Only about 50 workers were picketing on Wednesday out of 50 000 employees," he said.
There was a high police presence at the protest.