Sars appoints new commissioner following Tom Moyane’s suspension
JOBURG – A late night statement by President Cyril Ramaphosa revealed that he had lost confidence in Tom Moyane's ability to lead Sars.
South African Revenue Service (Sars) commissioner Tom Moyane has been suspended after President Cyril Ramaphosa released a statement saying that he had lost confidence in Moyane.
In the late night statement released ion19 March, Ramaphosa said it was in the public’s interest to restore the credibility of Sars without delay.
Shady figures who live in the shadowy world of state capture deserve to be suspended after nighfall.
No new dawn for you Tom Moyane. Goodnight and Goodbye.
— Eusebius McKaiser (@Eusebius) March 19, 2018
“Concern was raised in particular about the manner in which Mr Moyane handled the matter of Mr [Jonas] Makwakwa, his treatment of the report given to him by the Financial Intelligence Centre, and his failure to immediately report this to the Minister of Finance.”
Makwakwa, the former chief officer for business and individual tax at Sars resigned on 14 March following a storm of controversy. In May 2016, Makwakwa was accused by the Financial Intelligence Centre of tax evasion, money laundering, corruption and using ATMs to deposit hundreds of thousands of rands.
The statement added, “In a letter to Mr Moyane, President Ramaphosa said, ‘Developments at Sars under your leadership have resulted in a deterioration in public confidence in the institution and in public finances being compromised. For the sake of the country and the economy, this situation cannot be allowed to continue, or to worsen.'”
Tom Moyane was pushed out , this is the new SARS commissioner. . . New Dawn programme is now clear as day light . pic.twitter.com/EX2PEXIZBT
— Maqhawe 🇿🇦 (@Gustav_Nd) March 20, 2018
Furthermore, Ramaphosa also raised concerns about the management of VAT refunds which had brought the revenue service into serious disrepute and had potentially jeopardised the integrity of Sars.
Ramaphosa and Moyane had a meeting together before the statement was released during which Ramaphosa offered Moyane the opportunity to resign with immediate effect, which he declined.
#TomMoyane had replied to President @CyrilRamaphosa where he said that he would not resign. #SARS pic.twitter.com/7gs7u9z75y
— #LordOfTheMedia (@samkelemaseko) March 20, 2018
Mark Kingon, who was the acting chief officer of business and individual taxes division at the revenue service, has been appointed as the acting Sars commissioner.
In a statement released on 20 March the National Treasury said, “He [Kingon] has been with Sars since its establishment and worked his way through the ranks to become the group executive: relationship management within business and individual taxes. We wish to thank Mr Kingon for availing himself to serve Sars and the country in this capacity.”
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