Sars denies trying to protect Zuma from Mkhwebane

Tensions between Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane and South African Revenue Service (Sars) commissioner Edward Kieswetter are playing out, with an urgent interdict launched by Kieswetter that, if successful, would limit the public protector’s powers, Business Day reports.

The public protector has issued a subpoena in an attempt to to obtain Zuma’s tax information as part of an investigation into a complaint laid by former DA leader Mmusi Maimane – which resulted from claims made in investigative journalist Jacques Pauw’s bestseller The President’s Keepers –  into payments the former president is accused of receiving from a security company.

Kieswetter, however, is attempting to get the High Court in Pretoria to halt the implementation of the subpoena, and to order that Sars officials should be allowed to withhold tax information from the office of the public protector.

He wants the high court to rule that the “public protector’s subpoena powers do not extend to taxpayer information”, and he wants Mkhwebane to pay 15% of the legal cost, which would result from her choosing to oppose the interdict.

In The President’s Keepers, Pauw reported that Zuma had received R1 million from businessman Roy Moodley’s company Royal Security.

This led to a complaint from Maimane, who questioned why these alleged payments were not declared by Zuma.

Spokesperson for the office of the public protector, Oupa Segalwe, acknowledged that he and Mkhwebane were aware of the interdict.

EWN reported in July that Mkhwebane was set to launch two more investigations into Sars, including one into Kieswetter’s appointment.

This reportedly includes the appointment of Kieswetter, who began work in May, saying that he saw it as his duty to rebuild Sars and restore its credibility.

A probe into staff matters at the revenue service is also said to be conducted by Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane. This relates to staff appointments in 2009, as well as a complaint that was received very recently, according to Segalwe.

The matters are related to employment and Sars human resources processes, according to News24.

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman)