Publications
Partners
Cape Town – Speculation that President Jacob Zuma will fire Pravin Gordhan in a Cabinet reshuffle at the end of January could be related to the finance minister's professed lack of reliance in South African Revenue Service (Sars) Commissioner Tom Moyane.
This is according to Democratic Alliance deputy finance chief Alf Lees, who said on Friday “Gordhan’s removal might be the end goal here”.
“If Gordhan is not an effective minister of finance - as he does not get cooperation from Sars and others - then how can he actually do the job?
“One might have the possibility where the president says he can’t do the job,” he said. “That would not be a good signal for the economy.”
Sars information not reliable - Gordhan
He was talking to Fin24 after Gordhan criticised Moyane in a written Parliamentary reply on Thursday, saying that he “cannot place great reliance on the information” he receives from the tax collector.
Gordhan was responding to a series of questions from DA MP David Maynier regarding the forensic investigation into suspended Sars chief Jonas Makwakwa.
Asked if Sars has had any meeting with the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), Gordhan said Moyane had not responded to queries since October 27 2016.
The FIC informed Sars in 2016 that it had found fraud and corruption allegedly involving Makwakwa and his girlfriend Kelly-Ann Elskie.
“To date, apart from the letter dated October 27 2016 from Mr Moyane, where he provided his terms of reference for the law firm Hogan Lovells… to investigate and conduct disciplinary proceedings related to Mr Makwakwa and Ms Elskie, Mr Moyane has not provided any substantive report on this matter,” Gordhan said.
“However, Mr Moyane indicated in his letter that the law firm would conclude the first part of the investigation by December 20 2016. By December 22, I had not yet received any such report.”
Gordhan said he “will not say more on Mr Moyane’s failure to act in terms of the FIC Act and other anti-corruption legislation at this stage”.
“This matter is also subject to legal action as reported in the media (e.g. charges by Corruption Watch).”
David Lewis, executive director of Corruption Watch, laid criminal charges against Moyane in October 2016 in accordance with the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.
"As an official who holds a position of authority, Moyane is obliged to report knowledge or even mere suspicion of corrupt transactions over R100 000 to the DPCI [Hawks],” Corruption Watch said in October.
Gordhan wants to protect Sars' reputation and integrity
Gordhan said the key issue is not any problem related to a lack of cooperation between Sars and the FIC, but how best to protect the reputation and integrity of Sars as a critical fiscal institution.
“The focus must remain on the investigation against Mr Makwakwa, by both Sars and the law enforcement authorities.
“The issue of cooperation between Sars and FIC is important, but must be understood in terms of the role and function of the FIC in terms of the law.
“As Mr Moyane himself confirms in his letter dated October 27 2016, there is no breakdown in relationship between Sars and the FIC. This is also the view of the director of the FIC.
“To protect the reputation and integrity of Sars, we need to know why Mr Moyane took more than four months to act effectively after he was first alerted to the Makwakwa matter by the FIC through a letter dated May 17 2016 and to only act after this matter was exposed in the media.
“Further, why Mr Moyane takes no responsibility for failing to report timeously to his responsible minister.
“Mr Moyane also needs to explain why he continued to allow Mr Makwakwa to remain in his position as part of his top management team, dealing with individual and corporate taxpayers and allowing him to represent Sars at hearings of the Standing Committee of Finance on August 23 2016 and the Davis Tax Committee on September 8 2016.
“These and other matters like that involving Mr Vlok Symington raise serious concerns about the stewardship of a vital fiscal institution.
“Further consideration will be given to substantially increase the accountability of the top Sars management for their actions and decisions.”
It is not the first time Gordhan has questioned Moyane's lack of transparency. In October, Gordhan said in a Parliamentary response that Moyane allegedly kept him in the dark about suspicious and unusual payments to Makwakwa.
“These and other matters raise serious concerns about the stewardship of a vital fiscal institution,” Gordhan said.
DA calls for full commission of inquiry
The DA’s Lees said the Makwakwa probe was insufficient and called for a full commission of inquiry headed by Davis Tax Committee chief Judge Dennis Davis.
“Dennis Davis told parliament two months ago that he had been mandated to look at the operating model of Sars,” he told Fin24 on Friday.
“This mandate should be extended to look at the performance of the senior management of Sars,” he said. “This mandate should be done under extreme haste and remedial action should be taken.”
Lees said Gordhan and Moyane seem unable to sort out the issues at Sars, and that Zuma seems unwilling to help. “Meanwhile, taxpayers keep losing confidence in Sars as a tax collector,” he said.
“President Zuma said he would resolve the relationship a year ago between Gordhan and Moyane,” he said. “He has not done what he promised to do. He has not done anything given the response we get from the minister of finance.”
Sars said in a statement response on Friday that Makwakwa is still on suspension. It added that the investigation by law firm, Hogan Lowels, is not yet complete.
"Updates to the Minister will be provided via the established channels of communication between SARS and the Minister’s office/National Treasury."
