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Axed South Africa Revenue Service commissioner (SARS) Tom Moyane will again turn to the Constitutional Court and appeal the North Gauteng High Court’s dismissal of his application to overturn his sacking.
But that's not all.
His lawyer Eric Mabuza told Fin24 on Wednesday the matter had gone “way beyond” requesting leave to appeal from Judge Hans Fabricius who delivered the scathing ruling or the Supreme Court of Appeal.
The former tax boss will head directly to the apex court once again.
Judge Fabricius ruled on Tuesday that “the conduct of (Moyane) in these proceedings is particularly reprehensible. It is vexatious and abusive,” and his application was dismissed with costs.
“Some of his [Judge Fabricius's] findings will have a chilling effect… it’s not just about Moyane, imagine if courts had taken the same attitude in cases involving [former president Jacob Zuma],” Mabuza said. Mabuza pointed out that several cases against Zuma would never have gone ahead if the courts had the same “attitude” to litigants.
He said that the judge punished Moyane for challenging President Cyril Ramaphosa's decision to remove him.
“It was unnecessary to call him reprehensible and abominable”, Mabuza commented.
Moyane has been waging a legal battle to have his dismissal overturned. The Constitutional Court in late November dismissed his application to have the Nugent Commission's interim report declared invalid saying he should instead seek relief in the lower courts. The Nugent Commission was set up to look into administrative governance at SARS.
Ramaphosa axed Moyane on November 1 following the Commission's interim report that he should be removed and a permanent SARS commissioner appointed as soon as possible.
The final Nugent Commission report will be handed to Ramaphosa on Friday, after Moyane lost his court bid to block it. Mabuza said Moyane’s legal team is working on the Constitutional Court papers and plans to file them as soon as possible.
