Tom Moyane is not entitled to lead the SA Revenue Service (Sars) and is conflating his own personal interests with those of the country, President Cyril Ramaphosa says in his affidavit responding to the axed commissioner’s court challenge of his decision to remove him.

Ramaphosa also dismissed his predecessor’s intervention in the case, describing former president Jacob Zuma’s affidavit in support of Moyane as "irrelevant".

He said he had completely lost confidence in Moyane, who had "shown no respect" for his office.

The legal battle between Ramaphosa and Moyane is set to reach a climax when arguments are heard at the High Court in Pretoria next week, with the president revealing in his court papers that he is poised to appoint a new commissioner before receiving the final report from the commission of inquiry chaired by retired judge Robert Nugent.

The inquiry — conceived of by former finance minister Malusi Gigaba — was set up after Zuma resigned in February.

Its mandate was to investigate governance at the tax  agency, which has been mired in allegations of mismanagement that deprived the fiscus of billions of rand that could have been used to fund key services such as health
and education.

Sars has had a shortfall of about R100bn since Moyane took over in 2014.

Moyane had argued that it was in the "national interest" that he be returned to his post.

In his founding papers, Moyane sought to prevent Ramaphosa from appointing his successor, to overturn his axing and to prevent the Sars inquiry from submitting its final report.

"The national interest at stake relates to the proper governance and management of Sars," Ramaphosa said.

"It was imperative to investigate the systematic failures at Sars. This was the reason for the establishment of the Sars commission," the president said in his affidavit.

Ramaphosa said the Sars commission had found that the decline in revenue collection was as a result of "prevailing inefficiencies" in the institution.

"More importantly, it found that these inefficiencies have been brought about by the reckless management of the institution during the tenure of Mr Moyane," the president said in the affidavit.

The Nugent commission, in its interim report submitted in September, found that Moyane had to be removed and a new commissioner appointed if Sars were to fulfil its mandate.

"The national interest therefore requires that Mr Moyane be removed … in sharp contrast the only interest demonstrated by Moyane is a personal financial interest," Ramaphosa said.

The president said that Moyane "has no right" to be Sars commissioner and that in terms of his employment contract, the embattled tax boss was due to retire when he turned 65 at the end of January 2018.

In any case, his removal was an "executive decision" and was distinct from a formal employment contract, which was entered into between Moyane and the tax agency.

Sars itself, said Ramaphosa, was not joined as a respondent and Moyane had not sought an order to prevent him from exercising his executive power, as derived from the Sars Act, to remove him as commissioner.

"It is of paramount importance that I as president am able to fully trust and have a working relationship with the commissioner.

"I also need to have utmost confidence in his or her ability to lead Sars.

"Regrettably the relationship between Mr Moyane and I has completely and irretrievably broken down," Ramaphosa said.

The president has extended the deadline for the submission of Nugent’s final report, after the commission requested the extension.

The report would now be submitted on December 14, instead of November 30, as initially prescribed.