‘Dodgy’ new Sars boss Kieswetter’s appointment ‘nepotistic’, ‘corrupt’ – EFF

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has released a statement slamming the process which led to the appointment of new Sars commissioner Edward Kieswetter as “patently nepotistic” and “corrupt”.

The party had previously objected to the “secret” nature of the appointment process, questioning this in a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa and in questions directed at him and Finance Minister Tito Mboweni in parliament.

The EFF’s objections followed Mboweni’s appointment of a panel chaired by former finance minister Trevor Manuel, tasked with recommending a new Sars commissioner following Ramaphosa’s sacking of Tom Moyane.

The statement goes on to brand Kieswetter a “dodgy character” who they allege is related to Manuel and is a “close business associate and companion” of his.

READ MORE: Sars ‘rogue unit’ did important work, says ex-employee

It then goes on to attempt to link Kieswetter to widely discredited allegations concerning an “illegal intelligence unit” established at Sars.

Reports of a so-called “rogue-unit” set up by Pravin Gordhan first surfaced in The Sunday Times. These reports were found to be “inaccurate, misleading, and unfair” by the press ombudsman and the newspaper was forced to apologise.

In 2015, the press ombudsman ruled that the Sunday Times must retract all stories on the “rogue unit saga” and to apologise to Pravin Gordhan as well as others implicated after Gordhan, former Sars deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay, and former Sars executive Johann van Loggerenberg lodged a complaint.

Then, last year, the Nugent inquiry into tax administration, which looked at the situation at Sars, found that the establishment of the unit was in fact legal, with former head of compliance at Sars Gene Ravele testifying that the unit did “important work” in busting criminal activities.

Despite this, the EFF has persisted in clinging to the “rogue unit” theory, including in a long rambling blog post by the party’s deputy leader Floyd Shivambu, who also tweeted that the Sunday Times reports about the unit were “truthful” and shouldn’t have been withdrawn.

According to the party, they will be exploring legal options in a bid to “invalidate” Kieswetter’s appointment.

They want the appointment process “reopened” and subject to “public scrutiny”.

READ MORE: Shivambu lashes out at Gordhan in paranoid blog post

Their statement ends with a warning that Ramaphosa and Mboweni must not get “arrogant” and ignore the EFF’s “logical demands”, or engage in “activities that led to the downfall of [former president] Jacob Zuma”.

Despite the EFF’s reservations, the president and Treasury seem confident that Kieswetter is the best man for the job, with EWN reporting that he was “unanimously recommended” as new commissioner by the panel appointed to advise Ramaphosa.

“We have every confidence that Mr Kieswetter has the experience, integrity, and skills required to turn Sars around by restoring revenue collection, redirecting operations toward innovation, developing future leaders for the organisation, and restoring Sars’ credibility and integrity,” Ramaphosa said.

Kieswetter is a former chief executive of Alexander Forbes and served as deputy commissioner for Sars between 2004 and 2009. During his tenure, Kieswetter established the Large Business Centre and High Net Worth Individual Unit, leading to both compliance and revenue collection improvements, Treasury said.

https://twitter.com/EFFSouthAfrica/status/1110822827308011521

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman)

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