Ex-boss of Sars just won’t let go

Former South African Revenue Service (Sars) commissioner Tom Moyane has not given up trying to get his job back. Just when you thought the former Sars boss was done with the courts, he filed another appeal on Thursday, asking Constitutional Court Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng to exercise his discretion to allow an expedited hearing into the drawn-out legal case involving him.

This time he cited being appointed by former president Jacob Zuma as the reason for his dismissal by President Cyril Ramaphosa last month. He also pointed fingers at the media, while pleading for an expedited hearing and appealing for “human dignity and ubuntu”. It has been pretty difficult keeping track of Moyane this year.

Moyane was suspended in March, and had to face his disciplinary hearing, together with the commission of inquiry into Sars headed by retired judge Robert Nugent. After a protracted legal battle he was sacked by Ramaphosa on November 1.

But wait, there’s more … Less than two weeks ago the High Court in Pretoria dismissed Moyane’s application to have his axing as Sars boss overturned, with Judge Hans Fabricius also dismissing his bid to stop Ramaphosa from appointing his successor, and to prevent Nugent from submitting the final report of the Sars Commission of Inquiry into Tax Administration and Governance.

Judge Fabricius didn’t hold back, labelling Moyane’s behaviour through these proceedings “abominable”. This hasn’t stopped Moyane though. “Apart from having been appointed by former president Zuma and being hated by the media and others, what wrong has Mr Moyane actually done to deserve being stripped of all constitutional rights … including his rights to dignity and reputation?” Moyane’s affidavit read.

“As expected and feared by the applicant and contrary to the learned judge’s finding that the final report did not concern him, it has turned out that the final report is all about him,” added Moyane, who argued that Judge Fabricius erred in his findings.

Delaying tactics aside, it seems the end of the road for Moyane is nigh with the former Sars commissioner close to exhausting all of his legal options and the appointment of his successor imminent.

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