All the benefits accruing to Jonas Makwakwa, the South African Revenue Service’s (SARS’s) former chief officer for business and individual taxes, will remain intact, the receiver of revenue confirmed on Sunday.
This is despite the fact that Makwakwa resigned from SARS with immediate effect last week amid allegations of impropriety. He had been at the organisation for 22 years.
SARS spokesman Sandile Memela said Makwakwa, "like any other employee, is entitled to his benefits. It will be fit and proper for SARS to pay … what is due to him."
However, Memela could not comment on the details, saying he did not have these at hand. He added that the payout was a "confidential matter between an employer and employee".
Makwakwa earned a package totalling R4.94m in 2017. This included a R3.3m salary and a bonus of R930,000. Allowances and leave pay amounted to R196,000.
He received R322,000 in contributions to his medical aid and pension and an allowance of R165,000 for acting as chief officer: digital information and services technology for nearly five months.
The information is in SARS’s annual report.
Ismail Momoniat, head of tax and financial-sector policy at the Treasury, said on Sunday the Treasury welcomed Makwakwa’s resignation. "It is long overdue." But Momoniat said it remained imperative — as Parliament had requested — that the full reasons for Makwakwa’s departure and allegations about his involvement in wrongdoing be investigated.
Makwakwa resigned last Wednesday for "personal reasons", SARS commissioner Tom Moyane told reporters in Pretoria. Moyane said Makwakwa thought the timing was opportune as Makwakwa had been cleared of allegations of misconduct in a disciplinary hearing.
But Makwakwa was on the verge of a second suspension before his resignation.
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