Controversial Makwakwa resigns from Sars

The South African Revenue Service (Sars) chief officer for business and individual tax, Jonas Makwakwa, has resigned for “personal reasons”.

Sars commissioner Tom Moyane announced Makwakwa’s resignation on Wednesday afternoon at a media briefing at the Linton House Auditorium in Pretoria.

Makwakwa has been dogged by accusations of corruption and that, among other things, he was paid a bonus while on suspension.

The Daily Maverick reported that Makwakwa received a R930 000 bonus in the 2016/2017 financial year, despite working for only six months before being suspended on allegations of corruption and money laundering.

Makwakwa, who is widely believed to be Moyane’s number two, was reinstated on November 1, after serving a year’s suspension after the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) flagged several suspicious payments into his bank account and that of another Sars employee, Kelly-Anne Elskie.

Makwakwa was suspended last year, after the FIC submitted a report to Sars containing some serious allegations against Makwakwa regarding how large amounts of money ended up in his bank account.

Sars then sought an outside legal opinion on the matter after Moyane took the decision to suspend Makwakwa pending an independent investigation into the allegations. The investigation by Advocate Motau SC cleared Makwakwa of the charges levelled against him.