The South African Revenue Service has placed three key executives on precautionary suspension, it said in a statement on Wednesday evening.
Hlengani Mathebula, Chief Officer: Governance, International Relations, Strategy and Communications; Teboho Mokoena, Chief Officer: Human Capital & Development and Luther Lebelo, Group Executive: Employee Relations have all been placed on precautionary suspension, the tax agency said.
The suspensions are pending the finalisation of a disciplinary process.
This is part of an ongoing comprehensive review of the whole SARS leadership by Commissioner Edward Kieswetter in terms of good governance, and in response to the report on the Commission of Inquiry into Tax Administration and Governance by SARS, namely the Nugent Report, it added.
The precautionary suspensions are effective immediately. They do not amount to findings of wrongdoing, SARS said.
Lebelo and Mathebula gave evidence before the Nugent inquiry, where they were quizzed on allegations of governance failures at the revenue agency.
As head of labour relations, Lebelo also played a role in the events surrounding the suspension of former deputy SARS commissioner Ivan Pillay in 2014.
The commission further heard that Lebelo had a hand in the appointment of a legal team to gather and prepare documents containing evidence that linked Pillay and another employee, Peter Richer to the so-called 'rogue unit'.
In June, Kieswetter told media that his engagement with SARS employees had revealed a work environment marked by a lack of trust in the tax agency's leadership, including racial tension.
He vowed to implement the recommendations of the Nugent commission, in a bid to turn around the institution.