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Cape Town – SA Revenue Service head Tom Moyane said on Thursday he has not had the opportunity to monitor news reports stating that his removal from the country’s tax authority may be imminent.
On Thursday Business Day reported that Cabinet was due to discuss Moyane's removal, possibly replacing him with former deputy minister of finance Mcebisi Jonas who would head the tax agency in an acting capacity.
Fin24 was unable to independently confirm the reports. Two sources close to Cabinet told Fin24 on Thursday they were not privy to the latest developments regarding discussions around Moyane's fate.
This comes after the revenue service's chief officer for business and individual tax Jonas Makwakwa abruptly resigned Wednesday under a cloud, after reports of alleged inappropriate relationships with businesses rendering services to SARS.
Scrutiny of the senior leadership of SARS has intensified since President Cyril Ramaphosa announced an inquiry into the management of the revenue service during his State of the Nation Address.
Concerns over the under-collection of tax revenues, coupled with a decline in tax morality, do not bode well for SARS either.
When Fin24 called Moyane on Thursday he said that he had not yet had the opportunity to familiarise himself with the latest news reports.
He said he had been in an extended meeting for much of the day.
“I don’t know about that and I am out of town at the moment. I am not in the office and I have been in a meeting for much of the day. I have not been following the news and I have not read the newspapers. I would ask that you speak to our spokesman at SARS,” he said.
SARS did not yet reply to a request for comment on the matter.
Fin24 could not immediately reach Jonas for his comment on reports that he could replace Moyane.
The tax agency is due to brief Parliament’s standing committee on finance next week about internal reports which previously cleared Makwakwa of wrongdoing, as well as other pressing issues.
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