I upset the system at Sars, so it ‘viciously came for me’ – Tom Moyane

Former Sars boss Tom Moyane used his recently-created Twitter account on Tuesday to recast himself as the hero in the story of his rise and fall at the revenue service.

Moyane’s tenure culminated in President Cyril Ramaphosa firing him on recommendations from the Nugent commission in November last year.

While the commission’s report found that Moyane had damaged Sars, the country, and its citizens and should be removed as soon as possible, the former commissioner said it was actually his insistence on doing the right thing that was his downfall.

Moyane said he knew all along he “was upsetting the system” and that it would “viciously come for” him.

Examples of what he did to upset the higher powers are, according to his version, his “ensuring that all tax cases are investigated despite who is involved”, his dismantling the so-called “rogue unit [and] all its activities” and him “radically transforming Sars staff”.

He added that since he believed he was fighting the good fight, he bore “no regrets”.

READ MORE: Court rules ‘abominable’ Moyane can’t have his job back

“To those under attack, be strong,” his tweet concluded.

Moyane joined Twitter in July, posting a video to prove the account’s authenticity, and saying he had decided to sign up for an account in the hope of participating in “greater dialogue and discourse”.

He has used his account so far to tweet about the “rogue unit“, which he has offered to testify about in court, and advance the view that he did a good job while at Sars, particularly when it comes to racial transformation.

He also recently used the platform to dispute claims made by ANC Veteran’s League leader Snuki Zikalala on Power FM that he may have been influenced by apartheid agents.

“I have noted the sadly libellous and defamatory comments by Mr Zikalala that ‘I may have been a spy’,” he tweeted, describing the allegations as “irresponsible and baseless”, but also “serious”.

“I have engaged my lawyers with the intention to serve Mr Zikalala with legal papers,” he said.

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