The state capture commission has postponed testimony relating to the weakening of the SA Revenue Service (Sars), which was meant to be heard this week.
The commission was set to hear evidence from former US-based consultancy Bain partner Athol Williams on Monday. It was also to hear evidence this week from former Revenue Service legal officer Vlok Symington, former head of enforcement Johann van Loggerenberg and the former spokesperson of the tax agency, Adrian Lackay.
Testimony was, however, postponed after evidence leader Alistair Franklin, who had been dealing with issues relating to the Revenue Service, had fallen ill.
Public enterprise minister Pravin Gordhan will however still be cross-examined by former Revenue Service commissioner Tom Moyane on Monday.
In November 2019, commission chair, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo granted Moyane leave to cross-examine Gordhan, who implicated the former tax boss when he testified at the inquiry. Moyane had to, however, first submit an affidavit giving his version of events, which he has done.
This is the first time Moyane will give evidence under oath to an inquiry. He refused to appear before retired judge Robert Nugent, who headed an investigation into governance failures at the Revenue Service.
It was one of the state institutions alleged to be decimated under the state capture project — and was hollowed out under Moyane’s leadership.
The former tax boss used a 2014 report by advocate Muzi Sikhakhane on the alleged rogue unit to purge key officials at the Revenue Service. It implicated senior officials such as Van Loggerenberg, then acting commissioner Ivan Pillay, and head of strategic planning Peter Richer.
The Sikhakhane report was used by Moyane to justify the suspension of senior officials and effectively “capture” the tax agency to further his own ends.
The report has now effectively been binned after current Sars commissioner Edward Kieswetter earlier this month wrote to Sikhakhane telling him the revenue service “will not place reliance on nor utilise the report for any purpose”.
He also revealed that, along with KPMG, the tax agency has nearly concluded a process of reparations for staff members affected by the various reports on the rogue unit.
Governance failures at the tax agency during Moyane’s reign were partly credited for the revenue shortfalls that saw a VAT increase in 2018 for the first time in more than two decades, hurting the country’s poor.
Moyane was fired after recommendations by the Nugent inquiry. The inquiry found Moyane was not fit to hold office and was largely responsible for the mess the tax agency found itself in.
Nugent found that Moyane lacked integrity and had colluded with consultants Bain to implement a restructuring that severely weakened the tax agency.
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