Cape Town – If Trevor Manuel were finance minister for a day, he would dismiss tax boss Tom Moyane.
The former minister of finance shared the podium with the incumbent Pravin Gordhan at a PwC post-budget breakfast discussion on Friday in Sandton.
Asked jokingly what he would do if he were finance minister for a day, the mood turned serious when he answered he would “spend twenty minutes crafting a letter to fire Tom Moyane”.
Earlier in the discussion, Gordhan was asked why Moyane, the head of the South African Revenue Service (Sars), was not part of the panel at his pre-budget press briefing on Wednesday, as the head of the Sars is usually present.
"The presence of the Sars commissioner is at the discretion of the minister," Gordhan answered.
When asked whether it was then his preference not to have had Moyane there, he said: "That's not what I said."
During Friday’s discussion, Gordhan more than once stressed that it is the responsibility of all South Africans to insist on the integrity of institutions such as the Treasury and Sars.
"These are not just state institutions. These are entities that need to be protected and South Africans must insist on it," he said.