The deadline President Cyril Ramaphosa reportedly gave suspended SA Revenue Service boss Tom Moyane to officially provide reasons why he should not be fired has passed, but there is no indication yet from either party whether this was done.
Earlier in October, a report by the Nugent Commission on governance at SARS recommended that Moyane be fired. EWN reported that Ramaphosa had been given until October 24 to respond to the recommendation.
Fin24 has, since then, approached both the Presidency and Moyane to try to confirm whether the deadline was met.
On Monday, Moyane's lawyer Eric Mabuza referred Fin24 to the Presidency, but did not provide any further information regarding the deadline.
At the time of publication, there had been no response from the Presidency to various requests by Fin24 for confirmation regarding whether Moyane had supplied reasons whether he should be fired or not.
Fin24 reported in July that Moyane's lawyers demanded in a letter to Ramaphosa that he halt investigations into SARS. A prior similar request to Judge Robert Nugent was rejected.
Moyane was appointed by former president Jacob Zuma in September 2014. He was suspended by Ramaphosa on March 19, 2018.
According to the Presidency, the suspension was in the interests of restoring credibility at SARS.
Last week Fin24 reported that Nugent said matters dealt with in the commission's interim report were final and the recommendations were conclusive.
Nugent, who is assisted by a three-member panel – Professor Michael Katz, Vuyo Kahla and Advocate Mabongi Masilo – said the decision that Moyane must go was unanimous.
"It is perfectly clear that Mr Moyane has no intention of engaging with the Commission or confronting the evidence that has been presented and has no intention of accounting for his tenure as Commissioner of SARS," reads the report.
Moyane is also facing a separate disciplinary inquiry, currently on hold, pending the outcome of the Nugent Commission.
The Presidency issued a statement at the time, indicating that the president is "applying his mind" to the contents of Nugent's interim report, and the recommendations made.
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