Ramaphosa welcomes Moyane judgement

President Cyril Ramaphosa has welcomed the judgment by the High Court in Pretoria to uphold the dismissal of SA Revenue Service (Sars) commissioner Tom Moyane.

Ramaphosa described the judgment as a step towards stabilising Sars at a time when efficient revenue collection and tax justice is vital to the economy.

The ruling was needed, according to the president, to ensure economic recovery and to restore the confidence of both corporate and personal taxpayers at Sars.

The president will now focus on appointing a new Sars commissioner.

Earlier on Tuesday, judge Hans Fabricius in his ruling criticised Moyane for his attacks on the office of the president and described Moyane’s conduct as reprehensible and abusive.

This was before Fabricius granted a punitive costs order against the suspended commissioner and said Moyane’s behavior through the proceedings had been “abominable”.

Fabricius ruled that Moyane had no legal interest in the content of Judge Nugent’s final Sars report and he had not established any right to set aside Nugent’s July 2018 recommendation that he be immediately dismissed.

Ramaphosa was well within his rights to suspend Moyane, according to the court, as the Nugent commission was lawfully established and it empowered Ramaphosa to remove Moyane in terms of the Sars Act.

The Nugent commission’s damning provisional Sars report, which found that Moyane had damaged Sars, led to the president axing Moyane on 1 November.

(Compiled by Gopolang Chawane)

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