Sunday Independent reports that while retired judge Robert Nugent’s interim report was damning on axed SA Revenue Services (Sars) commissioner Tom Moyane, he was even more merciless in the final version of his report into the affairs of the tax collection agency from April 2014 to March 2018.
This was the period during which Moyane was in charge. Having recommended in his interim report that President Cyril Ramaphosa should fire Moyane, in his final report Nugent found nothing redeemable about the conduct of Moyane, who was appointed by former President Jacob Zuma, reportedly his friend. Nugent said of the period under review: “What has become clear is that what occurred at SARS was inevitable the moment Mr Moyane set foot in SARS. He arrived without integrity and then dismantled the elements of governance one by one.” Nugent went on to write: “There are many elements to good governance. Principally, in any organisation, it is the oversight role of senior management structures, that are able to put a brake on abuse of authority, but senior management was driven out or marginalised at SARS, and we have seen no evidence that senior management appointed by Mr Moyane was anything but compliant.” Moyane was conspicuous by his absence before Nugent and appeared on one occasion only, “and then only to disparage and attempt to derail the inquiry”.
- Read Don Makatile’s full report on this story at Sunday Independent
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