A short media statement from the SA Revenue Service this week brought home what a long way SA has yet to go to fully hold those responsible for destroying our institutions and economy during the Zuma years accountable.
Yes, the former president himself is finally having his day in court for the arms deal, Ace Magashule is in the dock and the Guptas are a small step closer to extradition, but it remains deeply concerning that so many lower-profile figures have yet to face any form of reckoning.
Take Refiloe Mokoena, the subject of the Sars media statement, which recorded that the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation & Arbitration (CCMA) had rejected an attempt she made to have her dismissal by the tax agency reversed.
Mokoena was appointed head of legal affairs at Sars during the period it was under the thumbs of Zuma and his henchman Tom Moyane. Moyane, together with consultancy Bain & Co — whose SA head Vittorio Massone held several meetings with Zuma — refashioned and reorganised the tax agency, weakening it considerably. Sars crumbled from being a world-class tax agency to being an institutional basket case.
Sars said in its statement the CCMA found that Mokoena’s dismissal was fair — she had been found guilty of misconduct at a disciplinary hearing in November 2019 and fired. Mokoena’s actions provide direct evidence of Gupta skulduggery — Sars found that she had “actively facilitated VAT refunds to the value of R150m [to the Guptas] without having reasonable cause to do so”.
Another finding against Mokoena was astounding — she did not have the requisite tax and legal knowledge, yet she “overruled Sars and external experts on tax law” and “applied a repealed section of the VAT Act to justify her instruction” that a refund to the Gupta company Oakbay be paid into a third-party account. The last finding against her was that she caused taxpayer information to be shared, thus breaching tax legislation on confidentiality.
Mokoena’s transgressions caused considerable loss of revenue to the state, yet the Sars statement was silent on how the illegal refund to the Guptas might be recovered or how, beyond being fired, Mokoena would be made to account.
The Sars inquiry chaired by retired judge Robert Nugent did not scrutinise the Gupta VAT refund closely because Mokoena was facing the Sars disciplinary hearing at the time. What it did delve into was how, shortly after her appointment by Moyane in 2017, Mokoena asked that her annual salary be hiked about 40% from R2.2m to R3.1m. Moyane approved this the next day.
The commissioner was a law unto himself, as were his lieutenants — but there is silence among law enforcement agencies on how these people, who were complicit in destroying our institutions and fleecing the state, will be held accountable. There has not been a word about the case against former Sars No 2 Jonas Makwakwa, who was caught making dubious deposits into his personal bank accounts and was accused of conflict of interest related to a Sars tender.
Mokoena has apparently not been called to appear before the Zondo commission, yet the VAT refund saga is a major demonstration of the extent of the Guptas’ influence over the state. Could it be that law enforcement agencies are focusing on the big names for the PR value? This would be misguided, since those who did the dirty work could provide vital evidence to nail the big guns. Letting the Mokoenas and Makwakwas off the hook provides no deterrent for state officials with similar inclinations in future.
It’s simply not good enough.